


The Reaper and His Angel

by TreeOfLife1997



Series: Fem!Kirk/Reaper!McCoy: Her Reaper and His Angel [1]
Category: Doom (2005), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Doom!Trek - Freeform, F/M, Fem!Kirk, Genetically Engineered Beings, Genetics, Imps - Freeform, Mars, Minor Character Death, Olduvai
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-26
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 13:31:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 31,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6659989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TreeOfLife1997/pseuds/TreeOfLife1997
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. When John 'Reaper' Grimm and the rest of the RRTS get sent to Mars, he never expected to find his soul mate in the form of his sisters friend and work colleague. With Imp's running wild, people dropping dead and orders which could threaten the lives of everyone present at the Olduvai facility, just how far will Reaper go to protect the ones he loves most. Fem!Kirk/Reaper!McCoy.</p>
<p>This an idea I got stuck in my head and had to write out. It's been partly inspired by a story on here called 'Nothing But His Fish Bones' by JaneyKatherineHummingbird, whose story made me fall in love with the fem!Kirk idea and re-watching Doom not long after reading it.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or Doom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

** Introduction **

Jane Tabitha Kirk took her seat on the shuttle bound for Starfleet. She nodded her greeting to Uhura who smiled at her before turning her attention to what her friend was saying to her, who was sitting in the seat on her left.

Glancing round Jane caught sight of 'Cupcake', as she had taken to calling the jerk who had been drunk enough to think it was a good idea to punch her when she has refused him, who glared at her. Jane just winked at him before a voice caught her attention at the back of the shuttle as she was pulling on her belt.

"You need a doctor," A woman had just told someone.

"I told you people," A male voice replied. "I don't need a doctor, damn it. I am a doctor."

The voice reminded her of John Grimm, only this voice had an undercurrent of a Georgian accent.

Jane fastened her belt with a look of sadness.

Once upon a time Jane Tabitha Kirk had been Mrs Grimm.

She had once been known as Helena Engel-Sato, an archaeologist, biologist and geneticist working for the UAC on Mars and that was where she had meet John Grimm, a marine and the twin brother of one of her work colleagues and closest friend, Samantha Grimm.

The two of them had just clicked.

Jane would be the first to admit they had many disagreements over the years they were together on a great many things, but what they had, it had been true love.

Not five years after they had meet on Mars, they were married and ten years after that, she died in a car crash. After John disappeared like smoke in the wind. Not that Jane could have approached him, she was dead on record after all.

She had then hacked the database and forged herself a new identify.

From there she travelled around Europe taking up a new identify every ten to fifteen years. And after the turn of the twenty-third century, she went back to the USA and that's how she found herself aboard a shuttle bound for Starfleet with a name that wasn't her own.

Only this time Jane Tabitha Kirk wasn't a name she had made up, it was a name she had taken from someone else, not that the original Jane would be missed. She had been killed by her stepfather, Frank, just after her eleventh birthday after she had crashed a car into a quarry. Her older brother had been killed by Frank too after he tried to run away.

She didn't need to worry about Winona either.

The women had died alongside her children. Franks had beaten her to death before turning his old fashioned hand gun on himself. How the local authorities hadn't found out about this, she didn't know.

An entire family had disappeared and nobody had noticed.

It was strange and highly worrying. And if it hadn't been for Pike mistaking her for one Jane Tabitha Kirk, she wouldn't have the name she was currently using and she would never have found the skeletons of the Kirk family in their old home, which had mysteriously caught fire not long after she had found it.

"You need to get back to your seat," The women said.

"I had one," The man answered. "In the bathroom with no windows."

Jane finally caught sight of him and when she did she could only stare at him in shock.

He looked just like John Grimm.

"You need to get back to your seat," The women, Jane could tell, was very close to losing her temper. "Now!"

"I suffer from aviophobia," The man replied. "That means fear of dying in something that flies."

Jane looked round wildly, as she realised they were heading in her direction. The only free seat left was right next to her. She couldn't do this, even after all this time, she still loved John Grimm… She couldn't sit next to someone who looked so much like him.

Her heart wouldn't be able to take it.

"Sir, for your own safety," The women all but yelled at him. "Sit down or else I'll make you sit down!"

"Fine," The man growled, falling into the seat beside Jane.

"Thank you," The women muttered before walking off.

"This is Captain Pike, we've been cleared for take-off," Pike's voice sounded over the intercom.

"I may throw up on you," The man warned her, without looking at her.

"I think these things are pretty safe," Jane answered.

The man's head snapped up and he stared at her.

Jane shifted slightly in her seat feeling uncomfortable.

The man even had the same coloured eyes as John.

He just stared at her, but Jane got a feeling it wasn't her he was seeing, but someone else.

"Don't pander to me kid," He finally replied. "One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in 13 seconds. A solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait 'til you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence."

God, he even acted like John.

"Well I hate to break this to you," Jane almost smiled. "But Starfleet operates in space."

"Yeah," The man answered pulling a flask from his pocket and unscrewing the top. "Well... I've got nowhere else to go, the ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce… All I've got left is my bones."

Jane couldn't help but feel angry and jealous at the same time as watched as the man took a drink from his flask, before he offered it to her.

Jane took it and held it up in a slight toast.

"Jane Kirk," She introduced herself, before taking a drink.

It was John's favourite.

"McCoy," The man answered, taking the flask as she handed back. "Leonard McCoy."

And Jane couldn't help but think back to how she and John had first met all those years ago...


	2. Chapter 2

Hoshi Sato sat with her legs crossed as she meditated like she did every morning. But today her mind could find no peace. Her daughter, Helena Engel-Sato, was departing that afternoon. She had been selected to work for the UAC and she would be travelling to Mars to start her new job alongside eighty-seven other scientists.

Hoshi could still remember the day she had walked into that orphanage and first laid eyes upon Helena Engel. A smiley blonde haired, blue eyed three year old girl. She has reminded Hoshi of an angel, she had just an angelic look about her. A month later the adoption papers had gone through and Hoshi was the adoptive mother of one Helena Engel-Sato.

And Hoshi couldn’t have asked for someone better.

She loved Helena with all her heart.

Helena had shown herself to be incredibly gifted. She passed through school in half the time it took those the same age as her and by the time she was seventeen she already had a master’s degree in genetics. Everyone who knew the two of them always said she had taken after Hoshi, as she had progressed through school at the same rate as Hoshi had.

Only difference was Hoshi hadn’t liked science, her interest had been languages.

She could speak thirty-eight different languages and as a result she had been selected to travel to Mars in order to translate the Martian language which had been discovered in an archaeological dig. She had taken Helena to Mars with her, but whilst they had been there Helena had become ill, so they had travelled back to Earth.

Less than a month after they had returned to Earth, two archaeologists had been killed. The Grimm’s had been killed, leaving behind a set of twins, one boy and one girl by the names of Jonathan and Samantha or John and Sam for short.

After that things had gone from bad to worse and in the end the dig had been abandoned.

It was almost like the place had been cursed.

But now the UAC was reopening the dig and Helena was returning to the planet which had nearly claimed her life through illness all those years before. Hoshi was her mother it was only natural that she was so worried.

“Okaasan?” A voice called from somewhere in the house.

A few moments later Helena appeared in the doorway of the room Hoshi was meditating in.

“Okaasan,” Helena greeted entering the room. “My transport arrives in less than half an hour…”

Hoshi got to her feet and turned towards her daughter, “Do you have everything?”

“Yes, Okaasan,” Helena rolled her eyes slightly. “I have double checked and triple checked my bags and so have you.”

Hoshi smiled and reached forward, placing one for her palms to Helena cheek, “Promise me you’ll be carefully out there, my child?”

“I’ll be fine, Okaasan,” Helena promised. “I’ll be home soon and dropping in to pester you every Sunday again before you know it.”

Before Helena had been recruited by the UAC, she had worked as a research scientist on the opposite side of America to where Hoshi lived, but Helena had always returned home on Sunday’s just to spend a day with her mother.

“I have something for,” Hoshi told her with a slight smile. “Come to the kitchen.”

Hoshi lead the way through the Japanese styled house to the kitchen. Once there she pulled a box from one of the cabinets and held it out to her daughter. Helena took it and opened it before looking up and staring at her mother in slight shock.

It was a set of two Omamori’s, which were Japanese protection charms.

One was for hanging up in the window of a room or on the door to a room, but the other was slightly smaller and made of metal rather than card and fabric, which could be worn as a necklace.

“What are they for?” Helena asked.

“This one,” Hoshi pointed to the one which could be hung up in the private quarters the UAC would be giving Helena on Mars. “Is a kanai-anzen, for protection of family and peace and prosperity in a household.”

Helena run her fingers over the soft material which made up the Omamori.

“And this one,” Hoshi pointed to the one which was designed to be worn as a necklace. “Is a yaku-yoke, for the avoidance of evil.”

Hoshi generally pulled it from the box and placed it around her daughter’s neck.

Helena reached up and felt it, before tucking it under her top.

“Thank you, Okaasan,” Helena smiled, tearing up slightly and pulling her mother into a tight embrace.

~*~

Helena shut her eyes for a second as she sat down in the last free seat left on the shuttle that would be taking her and her fellow scientists to the Ark. She was going to miss her mother, but at the same time she was so excited she was sure she was going to burst.

She was going back to Mars.

She was leaving Earth.

She smiled and opened her eyes, this was a dream come true for her.

Even as a child she had been obsessed with space. She often complained she had been born in the wrong time, she wanted to be in the future when space travel would be so much easier than it was now, but she’d never live to see that.

She’d been dead and buried by the time space travel became available like that.

The women who was sitting beside her shifted nervously in her seat as the shuttle began moving once more. Helena glanced at her, taking in her brunette hair, soft brown eyes and slightly pale skin.

“Are you alright?” Helena asked.

The women glanced at her and gave her a brief smile, which looked a little queasy.

“I’m fine,” The women answered. “Just a little nervous.”

“Not a fan of Ark travel?” Helena guessed.

“That certainly has something to do with it,” The women answered with a laugh, before shaking her head slightly. “My parents died on Mars… I’m just a little wary of the place.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Helena answers, gripping the women’s hand slightly before letting go. “I’m Helena Engel-Sato, by the way.”

“Samantha Grimm,” The women, Samantha, answers. “But most people just call me Sam.”

Helena knew all about the accident which had killed the Grimm’s, but she tried not to let it show. Samantha probably had enough of people going on about it when they found out. It had been the first of many tragedies which had befallen that dig before it was closed. And Helena could understand what that was like, as soon as people found out she was the daughter of Hoshi Sato…

“So what’s you focus?” Helena asked.

“I’m an archaeologist,” Samantha replied. “But I’m also a pathologist. What about you?”

“Archaeologist, biologist and geneticist,” Helena answered.

Samantha’s jaw dropped, “But you’re so young!”

Helena raised an eyebrow.

“So are you,” She pointed out.

“I’m twenty-three,” Samantha answered.

Helena smiles slightly, “I’m nineteen, so it’s not that big a difference.”

“At nineteen I had only just started university,” Samantha replied.

“Well what can I say,” Helena grinned. “I’m a genius.”

Samantha smiled, “You must be.”

“Actually it’s probably more like ‘World’s Greatest Science Geek’,” Helena laughed.

“And the world’s cutest,” A guy sat across from them cut in. “I’m Dr Thomas Parker.”

He held out his hand and Helena shook it, “I’m Dr Helena Engel-Sato and this is…”

Helena paused unsure of Samantha’s title.

“I’m Dr Samantha Grimm,” Samantha introduced herself, shaking his offered hand.

~*~

Helena and Samantha stood side by side as they waited for the guide who would be taking them to the Ark, where they’d be transported to Olduvai where Dr Cormack, the man in charge of the facility and all the work that was done there, would be meeting them.

“Good morning Ladies and Gentleman,” A man with short dark brown hair and glasses greeted them. “I’m Sanford Crosby of UAC Public Relations. Now follow me, please.”

Helena and Samantha shared a glance before they and the rest of the group followed him down a network of hallways to where the Ark was.

“Either of you two ever used Ark travel before?” Thomas Parker asked.

“Twice,” Both Helena and Samantha answered at the same time.

“Really?” Thomas asked. “When?”

“My mother was part of the first dig,” Helena explained. “She refused to leave me behind, so she bought me with her.”

“My parents worked on the dig,” Samantha answered.

Thomas eyes widen as he realised who the two of them are.

“I’m honoured,” He muttered. “To be working alongside the daughter of Hoshi Sato and the daughter of the late Dr Leonard Grimm and Dr Joanna Grimm.”

The group entered a large room, the Ark hovered in the air it the centre of room and it looked like a giant bubble of water.

“That’s not what I expected it to look like,” Thomas Parker muttered, staring at it.

As they queued to travel through the Ark one by one, Helena pulled her electronic pad from her bag and quickly typed a message to her mother. Finally it was only herself, Samantha Grimm and Thomas Parker left.

“After you,” Thomas Parker waved the two of them ahead of himself.

Samantha stepped up to the Ark and seemed to be sucked into it. After a couple of minuets Sanford Crosby waved her forward.

“The Ark is ready for transportation,” He informed her.

Helena took her place in front of it and after a second she felt an odd tugging sensation and before she knew it, she found herself in the Ark transporter room at Olduvai. She quickly covered her mouth and breathed deeply through her nose to try and calm the violent feeling of sickness which washed over her.

Once she was sure she could move without throwing up, she joined Samantha who was stood a couple of feet away looking slightly green and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Samantha gave Helena a slightly curious look when she noticed Helena had thrown up like everyone else.

Helena just grinned at her before turning to watch the arrival of Thomas Parker.

Only it wasn’t Thomas Parker that arrived.

It was a mangled heap of flesh and bone which had once been Thomas Parker.

Helena couldn’t stop herself this time, she threw up.


	3. Chapter 2

Helena walked along a hallway, glancing at the room numbers on the doors as she passed them, looking for her assigned room. It had turned into complete and utter chaos after what had happened to Dr Thomas Parker and Helena hadn't been sure what was going on, as people began to run around in panic.

Dr Thomas Parker's body had been cleared away fairly quickly, but it had taken a good few hours to calm everyone down and Helena was sure she was going to be having nightmares for weeks to come. She couldn't stop thinking about it and how that could have been her it happened to.

The head of the facility had quickly announced there would be counselling sessions for anyone who needed it. But Helena had never been mad keen on shrinks, she knew her own mind perfectly well, she didn't need someone else to understand it and make suggestions.

Arriving at the door to her new quarters, Helena placed her palm on the hand scanner next to the door and the panel lit up green after a second and the door slid open. Helena took a step forward and paused in the doorway of the room as she looked round, taking in all the details.

To her surprise she had a roommate. She was sure it had been said that all employees would have their own private rooms, she'd have to bring that up next time she saw a senior member of staff. Walking over to one of the two beds in the room, Helena put down her suitcase before she sat down on the edge of her bed. She turned her head to the side and looked out the window.

Mars was a beautiful place, but it sent shivers down Helena's spine. There was just something about the planet that put her on edge. Maybe it was just because it was so different to her home planet… But something about the planet outside her window screamed danger. The atmosphere outside was harsh and brutal, but that wasn't what put her on edge... Maybe it was just the fact Mars was completely dead and had no form of life other than that contained with in the UAC facility.

Suddenly the sound of a toilet flushing from within the bathroom made Helena jump, she hadn't realised her roommate was already here. The bathroom door opened to reveal none other than Samantha Grimm, who looked incredibly pale.

"Sam," Helena greeted, causing Sam to jump.

"Helena!" Sam exclaimed, raising a hand to her heart. "I didn't hear you come in. You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry," Helena apologised with a slight grin. "I hadn't even realise there was anyone other than me here. Didn't you bring anything with you?"

"Security confiscated my luggage," Sam explained, as she moved to sit down on the bed across from Helena's. "I'll get it back either later today, or some time tomorrow."

"Why'd they take you luggage?" Helena asked.

"I have no idea," Sam answered.

Helena nodded and lay back on her bed, stretching out her arms and stared up at the ceiling.

"So what do you think of Mars so far?" Helena asked after a moment of silence.

"I'd rather be anywhere but here, after everything that's happened here so far today," Sam answered honestly.

Helena made a noise of agreement.

"I'll be counting down the days until I leave," Helena replied. "There's just something about this place…"

Sam laughed, "Don't tell me you think it's haunted."

"Maybe it is," Helena whispered to herself. "Maybe it is."

~*~

Helena eyes snapped open as she was awoken by someone shaking her by the shoulders violently.

"Helena! Come on! Wake up! You've got to see this!" An excited voice yelled at her.

Helena blinked up at the person above her for a couple of seconds before they came into focus.

"Sam!" Helena moaned, pulling herself free of Sam's grip and rolling over and burying her face in her pillow. "It's two in the morning."

"You have to see this, Helena!" Sam tugged on Helena's shoulders. "We found a skeleton!"

"That's great, tell me more about it in the morning," Helena mumbled sleepily.

Sam sat back and started at Helena in disbelief, only to nearly be head-butted in the face as Helena sat bolt upright half a second later.

"What?!" Helena all but shrieked. "You found a skeleton?!"

"Yes!" Sam replied. "Come on! Get dressed! They're about to excavate it!"

Helena jumped out of bed and run over to her small wardrobe and pulled the doors open, before pulling out the first set of cloths she hands reached. She stripping off her nightdress where she stood and began getting changed.

"Right," Helena said, turning back to face Sam as she pulled her hair into ponytail and tied it up with a piece of string. "Let's go."

Sam stared at Helena, mouth agape, before she rolled her eye and turned towards the door. Helena grinned and followed after her. She worked out long ago Sam was very reserved, she refused to get changed anywhere but the bathroom, as where Helena stripped off in the main room, as long as the door was shut.

The two of them hurried through the facility towards where the archaeological dig was taking place. They reached the observation window, only to find a crowd had already gathered around it.

"We're not going to see anything from here," Sam muttered, as she stood on her tiptoes to try and see over the heads of their work colleagues.

Helena suddenly grabbed Sam's arm and pulled her away from the crowd gathered around the observation window.

"I know somewhere we can watch from," Helena informed her. "Not many people know about it. I found it whilst I was looking around the first week we were here."

"You went exploring the first week we were here?" Sam asked. "Where did you even go? Most of the facility is restricted. We weren't cleared to enter any of the labs until our second week here… Helena, tell me you didn't."

"Okay," Helena grinned over her shoulder. "I didn't."

"Oh my god, Helena!" Sam snapped coming to a halt. "Do you have an idea how much trouble you would have been in if you'd been caught?"

"Shh," Helena hissed. "Keep your voice down! Do you want people to find out?!"

Sam suddenly laughed and it sounded slightly hysterical to Helena's ears.

"I can't believe you didn't get caught," Sam gasped.

"Are you okay, Sam," Helena asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," Sam answered, with a slightly hysterical edge to her voice. "I'm completely fine."

Helena sent Sam a worried glance before turning back round, "It's just up here. Quickly, or we're going to miss it."

~*~

Helena stopped and stared at the skeletons in the glass case. It had been one of the first skeletons they had found in dig. The same skeleton she and Sam had watched being bought to the surface. But it hadn't just been one skeleton, it had been the skeleton of a mother and her child. Helena should have been over the moon with the discovery.

They finally had the skeletal remains of the beings that had once inhabited Mars and built the Arc to Earth.

But Helena couldn't find it within herself to be as excited as everyone else, because every time she looked at the skeleton, it sent a tingling sensation up her spine. And all she could think about was what that mother had been protecting her child from.

Had that mother been trying to protect her child from the same thing that had led to the extinction of their species? Had what that mother been shielding her child from, been what caused the Martians to create the Ark? Had they been trying to escape from something? And if they had, what was it?

They found no evidence to suggest the Martians had predators which could have forced them to flee their planet. They had found remains of animals that could certainly have harmed or killed a Martian, if Martians were in anyway like Humans, but they had also found the remains advanced weaponry. So anything of danger to them, they could have quite easily have killed if it entered the Martian city limits.

Neither had they found any evidence of any diseases that could have caused a planet wide crisis. The remains of Martian equipment they had found so far, were all far more advanced that the technology they had on Earth and unless they found a way to replicate the technology they had found, it'd be hundreds of years until Earth caught up.

"What happened, Lucy?" Helena asked the skeleton on the other side of the glass, only to be answered with silence like she always was.

After the skeleton had been put on display in the middle of the lab, everyone had seemed to have taken to calling her Lucy. At first Helena had just ignored it when she heard people calling the skeleton Lucy, but as the weeks past, Helena found herself referring to the skeleton as Lucy more and more often.

In a way it felt fitting.

"Well good night, Lucy," Helena muttered as she headed to the door. "Maybe one day I'll discover the answers you're so happy to keep to yourself."

And as Helena exited the lab, she glanced over her shoulder and caught one last look at Lucy before the door shut. Maybe knowing what had really happened to the Martian's wasn't such a good idea. So far the Martian's were strikingly similar to humans, the only difference being the twenty-fourth chromosome, which they still had no idea what it did. What happened if they discovered the truth and it wiped out the human race too?

They didn't have the option of fleeing to another planet like the Martian's had.

Helena rolled her eyes. Her lack of sleep must be catching up with her, she was starting to sound like her Okaasan!

And as Helena walked down the corridor, away from the labs, the hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. Shaking her head, Helena run a hand over the back of her neck. It was just her imagination combined with her lack of sleep.

It was late, most likely gone midnight, nobody was around other than her… So nobody could be following her.

When the dig had been in its early stages, there had been people working around the clock. The facility had been a hive of activity night and day, but now… The earliest you'd see someone in the lab was six in the morning and latest was eleven at night... A deadline that Helena had managed to pass.

Sighing to herself, Helena forced herself to slow down as she realised she was only a few steps away from running. She refused to run away from something that was only the product of her over active imagination and sleep deprived mind.

But suddenly Helena got the distinct feeling she wasn't alone.

And it wasn't her imagination.

There was something in the corridor behind her.

Helena didn't even bother to look round, she just ran.


	4. Chapter Three

Walking across the lab, Helena entered the small private office. She shut and locked the door behind her and walked over to the computer terminal and sat down. She was just about to type in her ID and password, when she hesitated.

What would she say if someone questioned her?

She'd been having nightmares for weeks now and in her nightmares, unlike when she had really been in the corridor, she had turned around to see what was behind her… And every time she has turned round, the thing behind her had never been human.

In fact Helena had never seen anything like the creatures she saw in her dreams in her entire life.

Helena just shook her head, typed in her ID and logged in. Maybe it was the space madness she heard a few of her colleagues talking about. Maybe she was just missing home more than she originally thought she would… But there was something very wrong with this place, she could feel it.

She quickly searched for the CCTV footage she needed, only to be greeted with a blank screen and a message box in the middle reading 'Footage Not Found'. Helena didn't know how long she stared at the screen for, but she was suddenly started from her thoughts by someone banging on the door to the private office she was in.

"Doctor Engel-Sato?" A voice called through the door. "Are you alright in there?"

"I'm fine," Helena called back. "I won't be a minute."

Helena quickly logged off and shut down the computer before she got to her feet. She unlocked the door and stepped out of the private office, only to be greeted by one of the lab assistants.

"How can I help you, David?" Helena asked.

"There's someone here to see you, Helena," David explained and nodded towards lab table Helena had her research set up on.

Helena noticed it was an older gentleman, with greying hair, dressed in a plain white lab coat, who was also currently looking over her work. Helena turned back to David and nodded.

"Thanks for letting me know," Helena thanked him, before making her way over to where the older gentleman was waiting for her.

"Hello," Helena greeted. "I'm Doctor Helena Engel-Sato."

"Oh, I know who you are," The man answered with a slight smile. "I'm Doctor Carmack."

"Nice to meet you, Doctor," Helena shook his offered hand.

"I wanted to talk to you about a secondary project the UAC is funding," Dr Carmack explained the reason for his visit.

"A secondary project?" Helena questioned. "What for?"

"Following the discovery of," Dr Carmack paused. " _Lucy_ , we've been asking the UAC for funding to discover what the twenty-fourth chromosome in her DNA was for and they have finally given us that funding."

"What do you expect to find?" Helena asked.

"Currently, we have no idea," Dr Carmack answered honestly. "Which is why I wished to ask you to join our team to uncover its secrets."

"I am honoured you thought of me, Doctor," Helena replied. "But I was hired by the UAC to do the job I'm currently doing… Who would take my place? We're already having another trouble as it is, trying to get everything the UAC wants done in the time they have given us."

"I understand," Dr Carmack nodded. "I personally questioned the UAC on their decision to employ so few people… All that I ask, is that you drop by our lab for a couple of hours a day. You knowledge on the area would be of great use to myself and my team."

"I'll think about," Helena answered after a moment of thought.

~*~

People always said curiosity killed the cat and Helena often found it amusing how people forgot the second part of that proverb. 'But satisfaction bought it back'. So Helena was more than willing to risk it, in order to find out what this secondary project was really about.

Plus, if it really was what Dr Carmack had claimed it was, this wasn't an opportunity she wanted to miss. The job she had been hired to do was to literally find out as much as possible about the life that had existed on Mars and to find out as much as possible about the planets itself.

It was hoped that if the project proved successful and Helena and her colleagues worked out what had happened to the Martian race and that the mass extinction that had occurred, wasn't going to be repeated, then civilian colonies could be set up on Mars. Eventually the entire planet would be colonised… It would become a second Earth over time.

Helena stopped in front of the door leading to Dr Carmack's lab. She pressed the buzzer and waited for the door to open and when it did, Helena found herself greeted by a women she hadn't seen before.

"This area is classified," The women informed her, in a no-nonsense tone.

"I know," Helena answered. "I'm Dr Helena Engel-Sato. Dr Carmack asked me to meet him here."

The women smiled at her and held out her hand, "I'm Dr Hillary Tallman."

Helena smiled and returned the hand shake.

"Come, I'll introduce you to the rest of the team," Dr Tallman, stepped aside to let Helena into the lab.

"This is Dr Willits," Dr Tallman introduced the first member of the team they reached.

Dr Willits looked up from her work and nodded to Helena in greeting, before turning back to her work.

"This is Dr Olsen," Dr Tallman introduced the next member of the team.

Dr Olsen looked up from his work and smiled. He got to his feet and pulled off his blue gloves and took Helena's hand and placed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Dr Engel-Sato," He beamed at her. "It's a true honour to be working alongside the daughter of Hoshi Sato."

"Thank you," Helena smiled.

"This here is Dr Thurman," Dr Tallman carried on with the introductions.

"Greetings," Dr Thurman nodded to her.

"Hello," Helena replied.

"And finally," Dr Tallman stopped at the lab table at the back of the lab. "This is Dr Clay. You'll be working alongside him for the duration of the project."

Dr Clay looked up and stared at Helena for a moment, before nodding.

"I look forward to working with, Dr Engel-Sato," He proclaimed.

"Likewise, Dr Clay," Helena answered.

"Well, that's the introductions done," Dr Tallman glanced at her watch. "So welcome, Dr Engel-Sato, to the G.O.D. Project."

"The G.O.D. Project?" Helena questioned.

"Genetic Optimisation Design Project," Dr Tallman explained.

~*~

Helena stood up straight and stretched her arms up above her head. Before reaching down and switching off the microscope she had been using and returning the sample she'd been working on to the storage cupboard on the fair side of the lab.

Once again she was working late and the last person in the lab. They'd made a breakthrough in the Martian DNA and had managed to isolate the twenty-fourth chromosome a few weeks back.

And a lot had changed since then.

The secondary project Dr Carmack had been in charge off had suddenly became the main project and the entire facility had been reorganised to compensate for it. The UAC had deemed the understanding of the twenty-fourth chromosome more important than the eventual colonisation of Mars!

And Helena wasn't go to lie, she was glad it had happened. From what she had learnt of the twenty-fourth chromosome so fair, it could lead to major breakthroughs in the medical community when their findings were published. The Martians had been completely immune to all diseases native to Mars and there was no signs of illness what so ever. They had yet to find a disease the DNA had been unable to overcome in there own tests.

And it was an added bonus that she got to work side-by-side with Sam once more.

Helena pulled off her gloves and headed towards the bin near the exit to the lab, only to stumble suddenly as she lost her footing. Reaching out she grabs the surface of the closest lab table to steady herself and her hand came in contact with something.

Straightening up, Helena looks down at her hand.

It was covered in a clear liquid.

She knew what it was straight away.

It was one of the liquid compounds they'd been testing on the twenty-fourth chromosome and it contained a chemical Helena was allergic to.

Cursing Helena ran over to the sink and quickly washed the liquid from her hand, but the skin had already started to turn red and was beginning to itch and the sensation was beginning to traveling up her arm. Spinning around wildly, Helena looked for where she had put her epipen.

She spotted it lying on the surface next to her work station and she cursed herself for not keeping it in the pocket of her lab coat. Sam was always telling her she should keep in closer to hand in case she had a reaction when there was no one else around and she couldn't reach it in time.

And as Helena stumbled towards her workstation, her vision began to blur and she could feel her throat tightening and it was beginning to becoming difficult to breathe. She collapsed to the floor beside her work station and blindly reached up for the epipen, patting her hand along the flat surface from where she lay on the floor, until her hand closed around what could have only been her epipen.

Helena didn't hesitate to inject herself with it as she gasped for air and as her world faded into darkness, but she couldn't help but think the needle had felt longer than it usual did.


	5. Chapter Four

It had been a few weeks since Helena had accidentally injected herself, with what she had thought was her epipen, only to have regained consciousness a few hours after she has fallen unconscious to find what she had injected herself with was one of the needles containing the twenty-fourth chromosome they had had isolated from Lucy.

As soon as she realised what she had done, she smashed the syringe to the floor and entered that she'd accidentally dropped one of the samples whilst clearing it away for the night into the labs' log and prayed no one questioned it.

She had no desire to become a lab rat.

A part of her knew she should have reported what had really happened, but lately there had been something different about Doctor Carmack. She couldn't quite explain what had changed, but something had and she felt like she could no longer trust him and as if she could have, she would have put in a requested for a transfer.

Maybe it was just the way she'd caught him looking at her when he thought she wasn't watching…

But ever since that night, Helena had felt different. Her senses were sharper for one. For the first couple of days she had stayed in her room claiming to be sick, as every sound and smell had overwhelmed her.

Her sight was also far superior to what it had been before too, but she had found that far less overwhelming… She could see further and the details of the world around her were much sharper and clearer than before and she could even see in the dark…

But that was nothing compared to being able to hear people's hearts beating…

Every noise seemed to echo loudly in her ears and she could smell what the mess hall kitchens were cooking from halfway across the facility. Even now she still couldn't cope with hot food... The smell was just too strong.

Once she had mostly gotten used to her newly enhanced senses, she had begun running experiments of her own. It wasn't just her senses which had been enhanced. She was stronger and faster. She'd even found out her body healed almost instantly after accidentally cutting herself, whilst chopping something up in the lab.

And most importantly of all, her allergies were gone!

She could eat food she'd never been able to eat before and take medicine she hadn't been able to before. Or maybe she did still have them, but her body healed itself so quickly, the allergic reactions cleared up before they even began to show or affect her.

She had even tested her own intelligence… Her IQ had gone up. It was far higher than the highest ever recorded IQ. Finally once she'd got a moment in the labs alone, she tested her own DNA, to see what had caused the changes... And she had refused to believe the results she'd gotten at first.

She now had twenty-four chromosomes.

She was no longer human.

She was a Martian.

Who was in every way superior to a human.

But that raised a lot of questions Helena found herself scared to find out the answers to. If the twenty-fourth chromosome was capable of turning humans into Martians, what would the UAC do with that ability and knowledge?

It was no secret that the UAC worked closely with military organisations. The facility had an entire department devoted to weapon development and testing. What kind of damage would an army of superhuman soldiers be able to do?

Soldiers who wouldn't die easily if Helena's ability to heal herself was anything to go by… The world would pay a terrible price and millions would die, that was for sure. Entire countries would be annihilated. It would be like the Eugenics Wars all over again.

~*~

With the help of her newly heightened IQ, it didn't take Helena long to hack into the UAC main database and access the classified G.O.D. Project files. They had injected multiple people with the twenty-fourth chromosome and the results were not pretty.

The people who had been injected had mutated into monsters.

And much to Helena's alarm, they were the same monsters she'd been seeing in her nightmares when she had turned round in that hallway. But how was that possible? She hadn't looked round in real life, so how could she have known what was in the hallway behind her?

Shutting down the computer, Helena quickly left the room she was in and she had one question on her mind as she did so.

Why hadn't she mutated when everyone else who'd been injected, had?

All those people had mutated within hours of being injected… Not a single person had lasted more than twenty-four hours… So what made her different to everyone else? At first she thought it was because she was female, but the fifth person they had injected with the twenty-fourth chromosome had been female and around her age. So that theory had been blown out the water.

Maybe it had something to do with the allergic reaction she'd been having when she'd accidentally injected herself… Maybe the twenty-fourth chromosome had to be injected into a dying host in order to work and attach itself to the hosts DNA.

But no, that couldn't be.

The first person who'd been injected was a doctor who had volunteered because he was terminally ill. He hadn't been quite as close to death as she'd been, but he'd been dying none the less and had maybe three months left to live at the most.

Reaching the door to the lab she worked in, Helena entered it quickly. David nodded to her and she forced herself to smile at him in return. The one thing she hadn't been able to find any information on was what they did with the mutated subjects afterwards.

None of the volunteers had been announced as dead and if they had suddenly just disappeared, the families of those involved would surely started asking questions. So how was the UAC covering it up? Maybe they had just released the mutants out onto the surface. Helena doubted anything could survive for long in the harsh Martian climate.

"Helena," Sam suddenly greeted Helena, causing her to jump as she'd been too distracted by her thoughts to hear Sam come up beside her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Helena answered, but Sam didn't look convinced.

"Doctor Willits," Sam called across the room. "Could you cover for me? I'm just going to accompany Helena back to our room. I think she's coming down with something."

"Of course, Doctor Grimm," Dr Willits answered. "I hope you feel better soon, Doctor Engel-Sato."

Helena nodded to Dr Willits and let Sam guide her from the room. But no sooner had they stepped out into the hallway, an alarm began to sound.

" _Containment breach,_ " A computerised voice sounded. " _All personal evacuate immediately. Containment breach. All personal evacuate immediately._ "

Sam's grip on Helena's arm tightened and she quickly began to lead the way through the hallway.

" _Containment breach,_ " The computerised voice sounded again. " _All personal evacuate immediately. Containment breach. All personal evacuate immediately._ "

Around them the hallway was beginning to fill with their colleagues as the labs emptied and people began to evacuate the lab facility and head towards the civilian area of the Mars base, where their rooms were and family members were too, for those who had bought their families with them.

" _Facility lock down engaged,_ " The computerised voice suddenly sounded. " _Facility lock down engaged._ "

Ahead of them, Helena could see the doors closing.

"We're not going to make it, Sam," Helena muttered.

Knowing she was going to have to risk it, Helena pulled her arm free of Sam's grip and took Sam by the hand and began dragging her through the crowded hallway, dodging through the people at an inhuman speed.

Around them, others seemed to have finally noticed the door ahead of them was shutting and panic began to spread through the crowd, but Helena and Sam had already cleared most of them and were rapidly approaching the closing door.

~*~

Helena tried to keep her breathing even and she crouched in her hiding place, listening carefully for any signs of movement around her. She and Sam had finally reached the door, but there had been only enough time left for one of them to go through and even though Helena was absolutely terrified, knowing there was a very good chance it was mutant that had escaped, she also knew she had a better chance of surviving if it was one of the mutated humans that had escaped…

Hell, she had a better chance of surviving it no matter what it was!

So Helena had pushed Sam through the closing door and turned and fled. It hadn't taken her long to find the hiding place she was currently using. She knew every knock and cranny of the place. So far everything had been silent and still. And it seemed like everyone else had found places to hide too, as Helena hadn't heard anyone go past her in over an hour.

But something was coming, she could sense it.

And was when the screaming started.

Helena knew it had arrived.

The screams echoed in her ears, even as she covered them with her hands, but she didn't dare move from her hiding place. She could hear the sound of flesh being ripped apart and the smell of blood was overwhelming her senses.

But she still couldn't make herself move.

She was paralysed with fear.

What could she do even if she did move? She had no weapons, or access to any weapons. The facilities weapons testing labs were on the opposite side of base to where she worked and was now tapped. Even if she wasn't, she wouldn't have had clearance to enter the weapons lab anyway.

And those monsters were mutated versions of herself.

They were superhuman.

She wouldn't even know how to kill them if she did have a weapon. She knew how to fight, but she'd never been trained to kill. Yes, she could keep her cool in high stress situations… You had to when working in a lab, where dropping one sample could lead to an outbreak.

But this…

This was completely different.

She didn't know what to do.

What could she do?

The screams were getting louder and the roars of the mutated humans were getting closer. The smell of blood was so strong now, Helena feared she'd pass out at any moment. And suddenly the door to her hiding place was ripped off and she looked up to find a mutant towering over her.

Helena screamed.

The mutant roared.

And Helena's flight or fight instinct suddenly kicked in and she darted past the mutant and sprinted along the hallway. A wave of dizziness passed over her as she run. The smell of blood was so strong. She turned down another hallway, more aware than ever that the mutant was close behind her.

She jumped over the bodies which littered the floor of the corridor and tried not to think about the fact, she knew so many of those who had been killed by name and had been friends with over half of those she had passed so far.

She turned down another hallway only to come face to face with a second mutant.

Helena skidded to a halt, almost slipping in the blood which covered floor and stared at the mutant in front of her.

There was no way she was getting out of this situation alive.


	6. Chapter Five

"Reading you loud and clear, General," Asher 'Sarge' Mahonin sat at his desk in his private office.

" _Union Aerospace Corporation has requested assistance,_ " A male voice answered him through his ear piece. " _To contain a Level 5 breach at their Olduvai facility._ "

"How many personnel involved?" Sarge asked.

" _Six scientists are under lockdown in a high-security lab where the breach occurred. Another 79 UAC employees are on site. As many as thirty-four of which may be trapped in the main labs after the entire facility went into lockdown. Ark travel has been suspended._ "

"What's the objective?"

" _Code red. Assess level of threat._ "

"Assess level of threat."

" _Protect and retrieve UAC property. Maintain quarantine at both Ark portals by any means necessary._ "

"Use extreme prejudice?"

" _Extreme prejudice. If necessary, search and destroy. Over._ "

"Search and destroy," Sarge confirmed. "Orders received and understood. Out."

And as the call ended and he pulled his ear piece from his ear, Sarge shut down his computer and got to his feet. If he was going to reach his men before they left for leave, he was going to have to hurry.

Elsewhere in the barracks, Sarge's platoon were dressed in their civilian clothing and waiting for their transport from the army base, to arrive. But it was running late. Music was playing in the background as the platoon waited.

"Oh, you're trying to get nasty now, huh?" Gregory 'Duke' Schofield spoke to his video game, as he lay on his bed. "Now you dead. You dead, sucker. All right, all right. You wanna bring your boys? You wanna bring your boys?"

"I don't believe this," Dean Portman, glanced at his watch as he paced up and down in his brightly coloured Hawaiian shirt.

"I confess to God the father..." Eric 'Goat' Fandom, knelt beside his bunk and took of his dog tags.

At the other end on the room John 'Reaper' Grimm sat at the desk beside his bunk, cleaning and preparing his weapons. Whilst Mark 'The Kid' Dantalian swept the floor around his bed. Between them stood Katsuhiko Kumanosuke 'Mac' Takahashi who had an orange in one hand ready to throw at Gannon 'Destroyer' Roark, who stood at the other end of the room with a baseball bat in his hands.

"Oh, yeah!" Mac cheered, as Destroyer hit the orange across the room and almost hit Duke, who looked up from his video game and shook his head at them in annoyance.

"Aim at the wall, man," Portman complained, as he nearly got hit by a fragment of orange. "I don't believe this shit. Six months without a weekend off and the goddamned transporters are five minutes late."

Across the room Mac picks up another orange from the fruit bowl and prepares to throw again.

"And that's five minutes of R and R I ain't never gonna get back," Portman carried on.

"Hey, relax, baby," Duke called from his bunk, as he winked at Portman. "We're on vacation… Yo! This game's layered, man."

Mac threw the second orange and Destroyer batted it across the room, knocking the lamp off the table beside Duke's bunk. Duke looked up and glared at Destroyer for a moment before turning his attention back to his video game.

"Where you going, Portman?" Destroyer asked, turning to Portman.

"I'm going down to El Honto and I'm gonna lock myself in a motel room with a bottle of tequila and three she-boys," Portman laughed.

"You're sick, man," Duke shook his head.

Mac threw a third orange at Destroyer who hit it and sent it flying towards Goat, who looked up from the book he was reading and caught it and gave Portman an unimpressed look.

"I'm sick of your filth, Portman," Goat spoke as put his book down and began to peel the orange.

"He speaks," Portman said mockingly before turning to Reaper. "What's it gonna be, Reaps? An armed conflict someplace quiet?"

"Yeah," Duke laughed. "Or a little relaxing jungle warfare? Or maybe you're just gonna stay right here."

"Listen up, men," Sarge interrupted appearing at the top of the stairs. "Leave is cancelled."

"Oh, man. I just..." Duke muttered to himself as he got to his feet and grabbed his dog tags off the side. "I don't believe this shit. Fuck!"

"Got a problem with that, Duke?" Sarge demanded.

"Me, Sarge?" Duke asked. "Hell, no, I love my job."

"What's up, Sarge?" Goat asked.

"We got us a game," Sarge answered. "Kid! Son, you are now in the Rapid Response Tactical Squad. The RRTS. Fall in."

The Kid quickly jumped up from where he'd been sitting on his bunk reading a comic.

"All dressed up and nowhere to go, huh, Portman?" Duke teased, as they run up the stairs past Sarge, who looked Portman up and down as he passed and rolled his eyes.

"Kid, don't forget your rattle," Portman called over his shoulder.

"Not this time, John," Sarge stopped Reaper, as he approached the stairs.

"What?" Reaper asked, disbelieving.

"We can handle this one."

"You're bullshitting me."

"No, I'm not bullshitting. We're going to Olduvai."

"Olduvai?"

"Take the leave."

"Is that an order?"

"It's a recommendation. See you when I get back."

And Reaper just stood there and watched as Sarge walked up the stairs.

~*~

Helena stopped running and collapsed against one of hallway walls and stared down at her side. As she'd been fleeing the mutants (which she had taken to calling imps, as they reminded her of the creatures she'd once seen in a fantasy-horror book she'd read whilst at university), one of them had dug, what she was guessing were claws, into her side in an attempt to catch her.

She had never felt pain like it.

And as she stared down at her wounds, she could only watch as her skin tried to stitch itself back together, only to split apart again. Helena rested her head back against the wall as she pressed her hands to her wound in an attempt to stop it bleeding.

She passed the infirmary not long before she gotten the injury and the place has been teaming with mutants. So going there wasn't an option. There had been a first aid box in the supply closest of lab she worked in, which contained stitches which is exactly what she needed.

Helena looked down at her injury once more. That first aid kit was her only chance. But between where she was resting and the lab supply closest were a labyrinth of hallways and rooms, freely roamed by imps.

Then there was the small matter of all the dead bodies and blood stained floors she'd have to pass and cross. She didn't know if she'd be able to cope with it in her weakened state. She already felt seconds away from passing out, could she really cope with such strong smells?

She was going to have to if she wanted to survive.

Who knew how long it'd be until help arrived? If help had even been sent for that was. What if the imps had gotten past the main entrance to the facility? What if the entire bass had been over run? Helena shut her eyes. No, if that had happened, she would have heard it.

The weapons department would have put up a damn good fight if they had.

And with the weapons that they were no doubt developing, she would have heard the sounds of battle and felt the ground shaking from the force of the explosions. Also if the imps had gotten as far as the weapon development labs, would the Mars bass even still be standing?

The weapons were no doubt highly dangerous, so one wrong move on anyone's part, could have resulted in the biggest explosion known to man since the eugenics war. The entire bass would have been ripped apart. So it was safe to say they hadn't made it that far, Helena concluded.

But would UAC call for help? If they did, they risked exposing what had taken place here and what had led to the lock down in the first place. If the media every caught scent of what had happened here, it would cause a frenzy amongst the public.

The scars of the eugenics war still run deep in many parts of the world.

Even if it was only rumoured that someone was messing around with genetic manipulation, it was enough to completely destroy their life. And that was exactly what they were doing here. The general public hadn't been happy about the genetic based research that was happening to start with, but the UAC had put forward a very good case on why it was a necessary part of the project.

And now it seemed everyone who had opposed it, had been proven right.

And with that thought in mind, Helena pushed herself off the wall and began making her way down the hallway and towards the lab, in hopes of reaching the first aid kit before she bled to death or got caught by another imp.

~*~

" _Aircraft ready to load,_ " A voice sounded through Sarge's comm.

"Copy that," Sarge answered.

"Great vacation," Duke muttered. "Damn, they go quick."

"Almost like we've never been away," Destroyer agreed as they walked through the hallway behind Sarge and out to into the compound where a helicopter was waiting for them. They quickly entered the helicopter and grabbed their weapons.

" _Handle ID: Destroyer._ "

"Daddy's home," Destroyer said as he sat down with his weapon.

" _Handle ID: Mac._ "

" _Handle ID: Portman._ "

" _Handle ID: Goat._ "

" _Handle ID: The Kid._ "

"'The Kid'?" The Kid asked not amused at his official nickname.

" _Handle ID: Duke._ "

"Say my name, baby." Duke grinned.

" _Handle ID: Sarge._ "

"I can't believe we're going through the Ark," The Kid said from where he sat.

"Don't worry, Kid," Duke answered. "You're gonna love it."

"All set?" Sarge asked.

"Yes, sir," A chorus of voice answered.

And as Sarge moved to close the helicopter door a hand over his own stopped him. He looked up and watched as Reaper stepped aboard and grabbed his weapon.

" _Handle ID: Reaper._ "

"Take us up!" Sarge ordered as he pulled the door shut behind Reaper.

"You know, Kid, it's funny," Portman said. "A couple of days ago I asked Sarge for a little pussy. The next day he brought you onto the team."

"Don't give me an excuse, Portman," Reaper looked up from where he was checking his weapon. "No one here will miss you."

"Men, look in," Sarge ordered, as he approached the TV screen at the front of the seating area. "This is what we got from Simcon… We have a quarantine situation on Olduvai. They sent this message, when the research team stopped responding to all communications."

The screen flickered to life and a message from Dr Carmack began to play.

" _This is Dr. Carmack, Classified Research, Olduvai, ID 6627,_ " Dr Carmack paused as a roar sounded in the background and the sound of metal buckling could be heard. " _We've had a Level 5 breach. Implement quarantine procedures immediately. I repeat. This is Dr. Carmack, Classified Research, Olduvai, ID 6627. We've had a Level 5 breach. Implement quarantine procedures now._ "

"UAC have shut down the lab, men," Sarge explained once the message had finished playing. "We need to go up there, locate the team, eliminate the threat and secure the facility."

"What threat?" The Kid asked.

"It goes like this, see: If it's trying to kill you, it's a threat," Destroyer answered.

Sarge ruffled The Kid's hair as he walked back to his seat and Duke sniggered at him.

"How long has it been?" Sarge asked as he sat down opposite Reaper.

"Ten years," Reaper answered.

"Sure she's even still up there?"

"Yeah… I guess you gotta face your demons sometime."

Before Sarge could ask what he meant, a red light eliminated the seating area and the helicopter began to its decent.

"Look alive, men," Sarge ordered. "Game time."


	7. Chapter Six

"Halt," Sarge ordered once they had disembarked the helicopter.

They stood in formation and watched as the lift which would be taking them to the Earth-side Ark portal rose from the ground in front of them.

"Move in," Sarge ordered once more, as the lift doors opened.

One by one they entered the lift and The Kid had to run to catch up after hesitating for a couple of seconds, as he entered the lift Sarge turned towards him.

"You hesitate, people die," Sarge warned him and The kid just nodded.

"Sanford Crosby," A man waiting outside the lift introduced himself as the RRTS stepped out of the lift. "UAC Public Relations. Now follow me, please."

He quickly began to lead them towards the Earth-side Ark portal chamber.

"How many people you got up there?" Reaper asked, as they walked.

"UAC employs 85 permanent research staff on Olduvai," Mr Crosby answered as the group paused as they waited for the door leading to the Earth-side Ark Portal to open.

"Welcome to the Ark, gentlemen," Mr Crosby announced as the door opened.

" _Initiating molecular mapping drive,_ " A computerised voice sounded. " _Initiating molecular mapping drive. All personnel, prepare for activation._ "

"Keep your distance from the core or you might get sucked in," Mr Crosby warned the RRTS.

"You, uh," The Kid asked Goat nervously. "You done this before?"

"Once," Goat answered. "On a training mission."

"Hope you had a good dinner, Kid." Duke grinned coming up behind the Kid as they spread out around the Ark Portal.

" _Inter-planet coordinate lock engaged,_ " The computerised voice announced. " _All telemetry verified and transmissions are five-by-five._ "

"Soon as we get through," Sarge turned to Mr Crosby. "I need you to shut down the surface elevator here. Make sure that we get the standard quarantine of six hours."

Mr Crosby nodded and stepped forward, "Ready to proceed."

Sarge glanced at Reaper who was watching the Ark Portal as it rose into the air like a giant water bubble.

" _Ark travel, 15 seconds and counting… Five, four, three, two, one._ "

"Why we gotta come all this way?" Portman complained once they reached the Mars-side of the Ark Portal and he'd finished throwing up. "Why can't UAC rent-a-cops take care of this bullshit?"

"Is it always that rough?" The Kid questioned.

"Believe me," A voice answered and the Kid turned to see a man in an electronic wheelchair approaching them. "It used to be a lot rougher. There was a time when Ark travel was susceptible to, let's say, major turbulence."

"What's he mean?" The Kid asked as he stopped beside Reaper.

"He means he went to one galaxy," Reaper answered. "His ass went to another."

"Call it a scientific miscalculation," The man in the wheelchair carried on. "Unbelievable as it may seem, UAC does make the odd tiny mistake."

Reaper couldn't help but snort and roll his eyes at the comment, causing Sarge send him a sharp look.

"Marcus Pinzerowsky," The man introduced himself. "Call me Pinky. Follow me."

"Where are the personnel who aren't locked down in the lab?" Sarge asked as they moved.

"In the atrium," Pinky answered and Sarge nodded.

"Pinky, put us up," Sarge ordered as they approached the main desk.

Pink wheeled round a d began tapping at one of the screens.

"Activating remote personnel surveillance," Pinky told Sarge.

"Circle out men, on my three," Sarge ordered. "One, two, three."

Each of them raised their weapons and looked through the scopes.

"Kill-cams up and running," Pinky announced, as the feeds from each of the scopes came up on his screen.

"Men, this room is a code red," Sarge addressed his men. "Which means no one gets in without our permission. It stays ours at all costs. Mac, stay here with our friend and secure the door. Men, on me. Let's move out."

"Open the door," Sarge ordered and the security guard next to the door leading to the atrium, who quickly stepped forward and hit one of the buttons on the control panel. The doors leading through to the main part of the Mars base opened and they walked through.

~*~

Helena walked through the hallways, glancing around warily. She hadn't crossed paths with any imps for a while now, not that she was complaining. But it just seemed odd that they had all suddenly disappeared. The scent of blood was also strong in the air and Helena could see the blood staining the floor, still wet and reflective in the light. So there had definitely been imps here, but where were they now?

But there were no bodies.

And the blood trails seemed to show that the bodies, which had been in this hallway previously, had been dragged away. Helena stared down at the floor as she realised to her horror she was following the blood trail. But this was the only way she could go.

If she turned and walked the other way, it'd take her far longer to reach the lab and the medical supplies she needed. She stared down at her wounded side. If she didn't get those medical supplies soon, she'd no doubt bleed out. The wound still couldn't heal itself completely.

It was strange though... She'd slipped in some blood and hit her head when she fell. Her wound had healed itself before she'd even had the chance to reach up and feel the damage. All she been left with was a streak of blood on her fingers from where she touched her forehead.

So it must have something to do with the imps.

Her body couldn't heal injuries caused by the imps directly. Maybe it was something to do with how they had mutated… Helena winced as she carried on walking. She was going to have to risk following the blood trail, it was the only option she had, if she wanted to reach those supplies in time.

Suddenly she was plunged into darkness.

She blinked as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and looked round.

Being able to see in the dark was an experience she still hadn't gotten used to. Everything looked different but the same at the same time. It wasn't like wearing night vision goggles, she could see everything around her in varying shades of black and grey.

It was like the world had been drained of colour and brightness.

It really was quite unnerving.

Helena froze suddenly as she spotted what she could have sworn were a pair of eyes in the hallway ahead. But the hallway was empty. There was nothing there besides the darker patches of blood on the floor… She could have sworn she'd seen a pair of eyes, though. It made her think of the reflective shine of an animals eyes in the beams of a cars' headlights.

A buzzing noise filled the air and a moment later the emergency lighting switched on. And Helena took a step back. In the middle of the hallway ahead of her, was a disembodied head, hanging from the ceiling by some cables.

"Holy-" Helena muttered, only to be cut off by a growl sounding in the hallway behind her

If the situation hadn't been so serious she would have rolled her eyes. It was just her luck.

~*~

"Where the fuck are we?" Duke asked as he looked round the atrium.

"Couple million light years from breakfast," Goat answered.

"When can I start evacuating people out through the Ark?" One of the UAC personnel asked, approaching Sarge.

"We're at a Level 5 quarantine," Sarge answered. "Nobody goes anywhere."

"Ladies, we're under a Level 5 quarantine," Portman approached a group of women. "So I'm gonna have to strip search you girls… Hold that thought."

Portman turned his attention to Doctor Samantha Grimm as she walked past.

"We're under a Level 5 quarantine-" Portman began.

"Portman!" Sarge cut him off.

"Sergeant," The UAC employee explained. "This is Doctor Samantha Grimm, the UAC science officer assigned to retrieve data from the lab."

"Sergeant," Sam greeted.

"Doctor Grimm," Sarge replied.

"Hello, John," Sam turned towards her brother.

"Hello, Samantha," Reaper answered.

"Hello, Samantha!" Duke exclaimed, only to take a step back as Sarge looked in his direction.

"Sarge, this operation is a code red," Reaper turned to face his CO. "We really don't have room for passengers."

"Excuse me," Sam interrupted. "But I have orders to retrieve data from three servers: Anthropology, Forensic Archaeology and Genetics."

"This is a military operation, Doctor," Reaper said to his sister. "We're really not here to retrieve your science homework."

"Look, I've got an idea," Sam snapped back at her brother. "Why don't you ask your CO what your orders are?"

Reaper turned to look at Sarge.

"To contain and neutralize the threat, protect the civilians, and retrieve… Retrieve UAC property," Sarge answered.

"We finally done here?" Sam demanded. "Because I've got a job to do… If you'll follow me?"

"You chose this, Reaper," Sarge caught Reaper by the arm, as they started walking. "Is this gonna spoil my day?"

"No, sir," Reaper answered.

"Tell me you didn't let a fine-looking piece of ass like that get away from you, Reaper," Duke asked coming up behind Reaper, watching Sam's behind as she walked away.

"She's my sister," Reaper answered.

"No shit?" Duke exclaimed.

"Don't do that again, man," Destroyer glared at Duke.

"Do what?" Duke asked, grinning at Destroyer.


	8. Chapter Seven

"There's three sections to the lab complex?" Sarge asked.

"Archaeology, Genetics and Weapons Research," Sam explained.

"You test weapons up here?" Portman asked.

"Well, it's a dead planet," Sam answered, like the answer was obvious. "You want that stuff tested here, where it's safe, or in your own backyard? We're primarily an archaeological operation. Weapons Research is in its own separate lab. It has nothing to do with the work done on this side of the facility."

"How many inside when the lab shut down?" Sarge asked.

"Dr. Carmack's team. That's six people," Sam answered. "Plus the twenty-nine personnel trapped in the labs when the entire place went into lock down."

They came to a halt in front of the door first door that made up the airlock. Sam slowly turned back round to face the RRTS.

"In one of the carbon dating labs, there was an internal phone left off the hook," She explained.

"Did you get any information from it?" Sarge asked.

Sam glanced at the UAC employee who was with them and he held up a recording device and pressed play. Instantly screams filled the air along with what sounded like the roars of an animal. Sam shut her eyes and tried not to think about what might have happened to Helena.

"Open the door," Sarge ordered.

Sam quickly turned and swiped her ID card and entered in the code and the door began to unlock.

"Portman, Goat," Sarge commanded. "Lead on."

Goat and Portman quickly went through the partly open door and pulled out a scanner each.

"Magnesium, chromium, lead," Portman read out the results. "It's all normal."

"All clear," Goat called over his shoulder.

"Pinky, give us a schematic," Sarge called into his comm as he approached the display screen next to the door.

" _Uploading to you now,_ " Pinky answered.

"Carmack's lab is isolated from the rest of the facility," Sarge explained, pointing to the map. "The airlock is the only way in or out. Goat, Portman you take Genetics. Kid, Destroyer: Carmack's office, where he sent the mayday from. Reaper, keep Dr. Grimm here safe on her salvage op. Duke and I'll take the archaeology lab. Be safe, gentlemen. Portman, Goat, on you."

"It's on," Portman grinned, as Goat opened the door Helena had pushed Sam through hours earlier.

The stepped out into hallway that was dimly lit by the emergency lighting.

"Clear left," Goat called.

"Clear right," Portman announced. "Five bucks says this shit ain't nothing but a disgruntled employee with a gun."

"Fluorescent markings as rooms are cleared," Sarge ordered. "Go."

~*~

"It's clear," Reaper announced as Sam followed him into the lab and switched on the lights, the lab had its own generator. "How much time you gonna need?"

"Thirty minutes, tops," Sam replied, walking over to the computer terminal and logging in. "So, 'Reaper'? As in 'Grim Reaper'?"

"They're Marines, Sam," Reaper answered. "Not poets… Holy shit!"

Sam turned to see what her brother had sworn at, to see him staring at the skeletons in the display case.

"Oh, yeah, meet Lucy," Sam smiled slightly. "Lucy, this is my brother, John... Another creature from the long lost past."

"You found human remains?" Reaper turned to look at his sister.

"Humanoid," Sam corrected. "Lucy and her child were our first major find. We're bringing out more every day."

"You re-opened the dig?" Reaper demanded.

"I know I should have told you. I figured it wasn't the sort of thing, I could jot down on a yearly birthday card. It's been stabilised."

"Bullshit!"

"You wanna talk about safe? Like you took a desk job? I'm a forensic archaeologist, John. I'll go where the work is."

"Is that the only reason you're up here?"

"You wanna know why I'm up here? I'll show you," Sam got up from where she was sitting and walked over to one of the microscopes. "Come here. This is Lucy's chromosome profile. Notice anything?"

"My molecular genetics is a little rusty."

"What's the first thing Dad taught us to look for?"

"She's got 24 pairs of chromosomes..."

"Humans only have 23."

"But what does the extra pair do?"

"Makes her superhuman. The extra pair makes her super strong, super fit, super intelligent. Her cells divide fifty times faster meaning she heals almost instantly. The fossil records indicate these people had conquered disease… We found no genetic disorders, no viruses, no cancers!"

"So what, they were just naturally superior?"

"No," Sam shook her head. "Not naturally. Doctor Carmack suspects this extra chromosome may be synthetic."

"Bioengineered?" Reaper questioned.

"That's a long word for a Marine. Does it ever bother you that you could've spent your life looking in a microscope instead of a sniper scope?"

"If they were so smart, how come they're so dead?" Reaper asked, avoiding the question.

"We don't know... Maybe they just went with time."

"You don't shield a baby from time."

Suddenly a noise from outside the lab had Reaper raising his weapon and Sam moving behind her brother for protection. They watched as the door lock was over ridden. The door opened to reveal a blood covered women holding her side with one hand and using the other to support herself on the door frame. Her long blonde hair covered her face and hid it from view as she hunched over slightly.

"Helena!" Sam exclaimed as she rushed forward and the blonde women looked up.

And all Reaper could do was stare, dumbfounded, at the blonde women his sister had called Helena. She was beautiful. She was by no means the prettiest person in the world, but to Reaper she was perfect. And Reaper had never seen eyes that shade of blue before. She really was perfect.

Even if she was covered in blood…

And bleeding out!

"John!" Sam yelled at him. "Help me! We need to get her to the infirmary now!"

"No," Helena gasped as Reaper approached her. "It's too dangerous, Sam."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked. "John, you're going to have to carry her!"

Reaper quickly moved forward and picked Helena up bridal style.

"Sam, listen to me!" Helena gasped out. "You can't. It's too dangerous… You have no idea… How…"

But Helena didn't get a chance to finish what she was about to say as she passed out in Reaper's arms.

"Quickly," Sam called, as she began to head out of the room towards the infirmary. "Follow me."

~*~

"What the fuck!" Portman exclaimed as he and Goat entered a room full of jars filled with organs which were still working even though they had no body or a beating heart, or a brain... There was even a heart beating on its own.

"Pinky, you getting this?" Goat spoke into his comm.

" _Jesus,_ " Pinky answered. " _Very cool._ "

Portman walked around the edge of a cage which blocked the centre of the room from view and stared at the table in front of him. Animal limbs were linked up to various machines and surrounded by wires.

"Looks like we've just walked into Frankenstein's work stop," Portman commented as he turned and pointed the light from his scope at the cages only to start countless animals barking.

" _Goat, Portman,_ " Pinky's voice sounded through Goat comm. " _There's another room to the north. Past Genetics._ "

"Copy that," Goat answered.

"What the hell is that?" Portman asked as they stepped into the room to reveal a large pit in the floor with a desk and chair at the bottom.

"You never did time, Portman?" Goat asked, surprised.

"What?" Portman questioned, confused.

"This is a holding cell," Goat explained.

"Bullshit," Portman answered, as he knelt down at the edge of the pit. "What makes you think that?"

"Touch it," Goat nodded to the edge of the pit.

Portman did so and got electrocuted. He quickly jumped back to his feet and took a step back.

"'Cause the walls are electrified," Goat laughed.

"You asshole!" Portman glared at him.

Elsewhere in the facility, Destroyer and The Kid were making their way through the corridors and hallways. Destroyer stood watching the hallway as The Kid checked a storage room which was more like an alcove in size.

"Cleared," The Kid muttered as he stepped out the small room and shut the door. He marked the wall next to the door with a yellow 'X' which glowed in the low light.

"Where the hell is everybody?" The Kid asked as they carried on moving.

"Hey," Destroyer suddenly spoke up.

The Kid looked round to see Destroyer holding up a bloody lab Coat... It looked like some sort of animal had shredded the material.

Suddenly something fell from the ceiling and The Kid responded automatically and began shooting at it.

Meanwhile Duke and Sarge had just entered the archaeological lab where the dig equipment was being stored.

"Jeez," Duke whistled as they entered the room looking at all different kinds of tools. "They leave shit like this lying around? Hey, Sarge, what's the deal with the sister?"

"Reaper's parents led the first team of archaeologists to Olduvai," Sarge explained as they moved to the next room, marking the doorway as they did so. "They died in some accident when he was a kid. She followed in their footsteps, and he didn't."

"No, what I meant was, is she single?"

Before Sarge could answer, gun fire sounded through their comms.

"All units report contact," Sarge ordered into his comm. "God damn it, all units report contact."

" _Friendly fire, Sarge,_ " The voice of Destroyer answers. " _Wasting ghosts._ "

"Roger that," Sarge answered before turning to Duke. "Funny, Duke."


	9. Chapter Eight

"No," Sam yelled from behind him as Reaper reached for the morphine. "She's allergic to that!"

Reaper quickly set the small bottle down.

"There's nothing else here, Sam," He told her as he quickly searched though the small vials which hadn't been smashed.

"Just grab the gas and air," Sam snapped at him as she prepared the stitches. "It'll have to do."

Sam had already cleaned Helena's wound and Helena hadn't responded to it at all. It wasn't like Sam had expected her to wake screaming, Helena had lost a lot of blood, so she was going to remain unconscious for a whole. But she had at least expected a groan or a movement in response to the stinging pain of her wound being cleaned.

Reaper quickly returned to Sam's side and placed the mask over Helena's face and watched as it misted up slightly as Helena breathed. As he moved to help Sam stitch up the wound, he couldn't help but wonder how Helena was still alive. The wounds weren't overly deep, but it was clear that the wounds had been inflicted many hours before Helena had shown up at the lab.

She should have bleed out.

But maybe the wounds weren't quite as bad as they appeared and Helena had been keeping pressure of the wounds. Her breathing was shallow and rapid and her heart was beating way to fast and her blood pressure was low, all of which were signs of blood loss. Maybe if she hadn't reached them when she did, it would have been too late. Maybe she reached them just in time to be saved.

Sam began to stitch up the wound and Helena didn't so much as twitch. Was that a good sign? Reaper didn't know. His medical training was limited, he knew how to patch up an injury that might occur in the field, but apart from that, he didn't have much knowledge in the healing arts. Sam finally stitched the first of the wounds closed and that got Reaper thinking about the injury itself.

If it wasn't for the fact her flesh had been ripped open, Reaper could have believed it was a hand which had grabbed her side. The shape definitely matched that of hand shaped bruises he'd seen in the past. But no normal human being would have had the strength to cause an injury like that… An animal with claws maybe, but a human? It would be impossible.

"John," Sam snapped Reaper out of his thoughts. "Pass me the gauze pads and bandages."

And it was only then Reaper realised Sam had finished stitching up Helena's wounds. He quickly handed his sister the needed supplies and helped her dress the wound. Finally Sam took a step back and breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled off her blood covered latex gloves.

"Never have I been more glad of the fact you never fail to surprise me, Helena," Sam said looking down at Helena. "If that had been anyone else… I doubt they would have made it. Your power of will, you inability to give up… Most people would have just given up and bleed to death… But you, Helena, you're something else."

Reaper stared at his sister as she reached out and gripped one of Helena's hands.

"What would I have done if you hadn't survived, Helena?" Sam asked her unconscious friend. "You're my best friend... Just be okay, Helena, that's all I ask."

~*~

"We got movement up ahead," Goat spoke into his comm as he and Portman began to follow the shadow they'd just seen moving along the hallway.

"Fucking door has been ripped open," Portman hissed as they reached a door, only to find it had been completely destroyed.

"There's something in Carmack's office," Goat whispered before nodding to Portman and stepping through the destroyed doorway with Portman close on his heels.

The two of them look round but the office appeared completely empty. But it was clear something had been there, the place was a complete mess. Something had passed through the office and recently. Suddenly a cracking noise catches both Goat's and Portman's attention and they both turn towards it, weapons raised.

Suddenly something dropped from the ceiling landing on one of the tables and Goat catches a flash of white out the corner of his eye as he turns round.

"There!" Portman yelled, firing at it as it run. "Contact!"

"Moving east through Carmack's office!" Goat spoke into his comm again as he and Portman chased after it. "Fast!"

They rushed out of the office and into the hallway they just been in.

"Confirmed contact," Goat continued as they turned down another hallway. "Moving fast, through south corridor."

"Hold your fire!" Destroyer yelled, as he and The Kid stopped in the entrance of an adjacent hallway and Portman waved them forward. They rushed down some steps and cautiously turned down another hallway.

"If you have a weapon, drop it," Destroyer warned, as they entered a room and came face to face with a man dressed in a bloody lab coat, clutching an arm to his chest. "Don't move."

Sarge and Duke suddenly appeared behind the small group, as they finally caught up and he moved to stand beside Destroyer.

"Doctor Cormack?" Sarge asked. "We're the RRTS. We're here to help you."

But Doctor Carmack just whimpered and dropped the arm he was clutching and slid down the wall he was leaning against to the floor.

"We not going to hurt you," Sarge continued. "We're here to help you. Where's the rest of your team?"

Suddenly Doctor Carmack reached up and ripped off his own ear.

"Jesus Christ!" Duke exclaimed.

"Get a med kit," Sarge ordered and Destroyer quickly handed him one.

Sarge approached Doctor Carmack and moved as slowly as he could as the man flinched back in fear. He ripped open the med kit and quickly treated his ear the best he could. Once it was treated he slowly got to his feet and stepped back.

"Duke, Goat, get him to the infirmary," Sarge ordered. "Portman, Kid, go to the airlock and dig in. Anything trying to get away from us will get driven straight to you. Now let's see if we can find the body that goes with that arm."

~*~

"It's messed up, huh?" Portman teased the Kid, as they walked along a darkened hallway. "Guy like Cormack, who's trained to put logic before emotion. He's so freaked, huh, he tears off his own ear… I tell you, man… It's shit like that that gets under your skin."

"Do you..." The Kid asked nervously. "Do you have any?"

"Do I have any?" Portman turned to face him. "What?"

"You know... I'm just a little shook up," The Kid almost started hyperventilating. "I need something to get my focus, man. My game face."

Portman just grinned at him and pulled out a bottle of pills. He popped the lid open and tipped two neon green pills into the Kid's waiting palm. The Kid quickly took them and nodded his thanks to Portman, who just grinned at him, before putting the small bottle of pills away.

"Shit," Portman whispered as he peered through a doorway into what appeared to be a locker room to find a naked lady standing in the middle, with her back towards him. "There is a God."

"Ma'am," The Kid called as he moved past Portman and didn't seem to notice the grunting noise she made in response. "Excuse me, ma'am."

The women suddenly turned to face them.

Her face was bloody and she raised a knife and charged at them. Both The Kid and Portman raised their weapons and fired and her body fell to the ground lifeless. It was only then Portman noticed she had an arm missing.

"Sarge..." Portman clicked his comm on turning to look at the lockers where 'suffer' was written on them in blood. "I think we found the rest of that arm."

" _Copy that,_ " Sarge answered.

Elsewhere in the facility, Sarge and Destroyer were making their way along a hallway when Destroyer noticed a scratching sound coming from above them. Sarge hadn't seemed to notice from where he walked ahead of Destroyer. Stopping Destroyer looked up and as he did so the noise began to move along the ventilation shaft that run the length of hallway.

"Sarge," Destroyer called, drawing Sarge's attention to the noise.

Moving Destroyer reached for one of the boxes which lined the hallway and placed it under the vent in the shaft and carefully used the barrel of his weapon to push the metal grid up and free. Slowly he climbed onto the box and looked through the gap he created.

At first nothing happened, but then a monkey shot out of the darkness ventilation shaft and caused him to slip and lose his balance and fall backwards, all the while shooting his weapon at the vent shaft, killing the monkey.

"What was that?" Sarge demanded, as he helped Destroyer to his feet.

"A monkey," Destroyer answered, slightly breathlessly. "Some kind of monkey."

Sarge noticed blood dripping down from the bullet holes in the vent shaft above them and moved forward catching some of the blood as it fell and rubbed it between his fingers.

He frowned at it.

There were strange black lumps in the blood.


	10. Chapter Nine

"No, no," Duke muttered staring ahead in horror. "No, no, I don't do nanowalls."

"Yes," Goat answered. "You do."

Reluctantly Duke moved forward towards the nanowall and Goat watched from where he was supporting Doctor Carmack. The nanowall had already been activated and Duke walked through it, weapon raised, only to be greeted by the sight of Reaper and Sam standing over a blonde women lying unconscious on one of the examination tables.

Duke quickly turned and gave Goat the all clear signal and watched as he stepped through the nanowall supporting Doctor Carmack.

"Shit," Sam cursed as she caught sight of the state Doctor Carmack was in.

Duke and Goat quickly lifted him up onto one of the other examination tables.

"Doctor Carmack, I'm going to take your blood pressure," Sam hurried over to him and he whimpered.

And as Sam was preparing the medical equipment, Doctor Carmack suddenly sat up and grabbed Sam by the shoulders.

"Hey!" Duke yelled and tried to pull Sam away from the crazed doctor but he wouldn't let go of Sam.

"It's okay," Sam told Duke before looking back at Doctor Carmack. "It's okay."

"I can feel it," Doctor Carmack whispered.

"What happened in here?" Sam asked.

"Shut it, shut it down. Shut it down. S-Shut it down," Doctor Carmack whispered. "It's inside."

And with that Doctor Carmack fell backward and lay almost unnaturally still on the table.

"I'm going to take a blood test," Sam announced as she moved reaching for a needle.

She quickly drew a syringe full of blood, only to almost drop it as she noticed the black lumps in his blood. She quickly removed the needle and pressed a cotton pad over small hole left in Doctor Carmack's arm and unnoticed to her the wound healed itself in seconds.

"What it God's name is that?" Goat asked, staring at the back lumps in Carmack's blood.

"I do not know," Sam answered as she moved away from Doctor Carmack and set down the needle, whilst she searched for a sedative. "It is possible he's been exposed to something. But I have no idea what kind of exposure would do that to his blood."

Across the room from them, unnoticed, Helena was beginning to stir. Her eyes moved under her closed eyelids and her breathing was beginning to get stronger and slower. Her blood pressure began to return to normal and her pulse also began to return to its normal rate and strength. The wound on her side hadn't healed though. But by stitching up of the wound, it had allowed her C-24 enhanced body to recover.

Suddenly Helena's eyes snapped open and she slowly sat up, careful not to put too much pressure on her side. She looked round and noticed she was in the infirmary, which unlike when she had first passed it, was empty of imps. But in their place were… Soldiers?

~*~

"Sam?" Helena called across the room to her friend, her voice slightly raspy. "What's going on?"

Sam spun on her heels and faced Helena.

"You're awake," Was all she said.

"Umm," Helena replied. "Yeah."

And before Helena had a chance to repeat her question Sam was running across the room and throwing her arms around Helena's neck.

"You're awake," Sam repeated as she hugged Helena. "You're okay. Thank God."

Helena returned the embrace only to wince as it pulled at her wound. Sam instantly let go of her and took a step back and studied her for a moment, before turning to look at the screen displaying Helena's vitals.

"How-" Sam began to ask, only to be cut off by the arrival of Portman and the Kid who were carrying a naked body between them.

The rest of the RRTS who were present lowered their weapons as they saw it was two members of their team and not a threat which had entered the infirmary. Duke let out a whistle as he saw the state of the body they were carrying. Even with the bullet holes, the naked women was still something to look at.

"What happened?" Reaper demanded as Portman and the Kid manoeuvred the body onto a table.

"She attacked us," The Kid answered.

"Attacked you?" Duke asked eyeing the body on the table.

"Yeah," Portman answered. "Bitch just went crazy… It was insane, man, she was just stood there and then she attacked us like a rabid animal."

"That's Hillary Tallman," Helena said as she moved over to the table to examine the body.

Sam followed Helena, having given up on her attempts to keep Helena on the examination bed to rest. She was injured for god sake and shouldn't be walking around, but Helena had completely ignored her. Sam covered her mouth with one hand as she stared down at the body, before turning away to find something to cover the body of Hillary Tallman with.

"What happened to her arm?" Helena asked, noticing part of Hillary's left arm was missing.

Helena quickly moved round the table and smiled at Duke as he moved out the way for her. Reaper couldn't help but feel slightly jealous at the sight and watched as Helena gently lifted the part of the arm remaining and examined it.

"It looks like it's been cut off…" Helena muttered.

Sam approached the table once more with a blanket in her arms.

"Here," Sam said, trying not to stare at the goriness of Hillary's death. "Help me cover her."

Helena reached for the blanket, only to almost double over in pain as it pulled at her injury. Duke reached for her shoulder and Reaper nearly glared at him, before he schooled his expression. He didn't even know Helena… He hadn't even spoken to her. He had no reason to feel jealous of Duke. Who she had smiled at twice now in a matter of minutes.

"I'm okay," Helena hissed out as she straightened whilst smiling at Duke. "I'm okay."

The RRTS raised their weapons again as a noise sounded from the other side of the nanowall. Seconds later Sarge and Destroyer appeared through it with their weapons raised. They lowered their weapons and Sarge nodded to his team before turning to look at Helena and Sam.

"Who are you?" Sarge demanded staring at Helena.

~*~

"I'm Doctor Helena Engel-Sato," Helena answered.

"Angel-Sato?" Duke questioned.

"No," Helena replied. "Engel. My last name is Engel-Sato."

"Whatever you say, _Angel,_ " Duke grinned at her, causing Helena to roll her eyes and smile slightly.

"Helena is my lab partner and roommate," Sam explained. "We've worked together since this project started… She's also the reason I wasn't locked down in the labs."

"What'd'ya mean?" Reaper asked.

"Helena pushed me through the door before it closed," Sam answered. "If she hadn't, I would have been locked down in here… You saved my life, Helena."

Helena smiled slightly, "You're my friend, Sam. That's what friends do."

"That doesn't change the fact you saved my life when you could have easily gone through yourself and left me trapped in here instead," Sam pointed out.

Helena shrugged and winced as the movement pulled at her injured side.

"I knew I had a better chance of survival," Helena finally answered.

"How?" Sam asked confused.

"Because I had a very good idea as to what could have caused the lock down to begin with," Helena answered honestly. "The morning before the labs were locked down, I hacked into Doctor Carmack's classified files… It was part of the G.O.D. Project, but a part I didn't have access to. Doctor Carmack and his specialised team have been doing experiments… Using C-24… On humans."

Sam went pale.

"They've been testing C-24 on humans…" She couldn't quite believe it.

Helena nodded and shut her eyes.

"Something happened to the people C-24 was injected into," Helena explained. "It changed them… It caused them to mutate. When the evacuation alert began I knew something must have gone wrong."

"But why did you save me instead of yourself?" Sam asked. "How did you think you could stand a better chance than me?"

"Because I can run faster," Helena answered simply opening her eyes and staring at Sam.

Because saying 'I accidentally injected myself with C-24 and didn't mutate' wasn't at option. Sam stared at Helena for a moment before sighing. Then Sam laughed in disbelief, before she realised Helena was being serious.

"I was right both times," Helena answered. "The only reason I'm alive right now is because I've been able to out run them… But then they and the… And the bodies just disappeared."

"Bodies?" Goat asked.

"Yeah," Helena answered. "They killed everyone… I can still hear the screaming. There was blood everywhere… And bodies… I knew so many of them… Had worked with so many of them and they were just dead."

Helena almost stumbled as Sam pulled her into a hug, it was only then she realised she was crying.

"What do you mean 'the bodies just disappeared'?" Sarge asked.

Helena sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"One moment the hallways were filled with bodies the next they weren't…" Helena answered. "There were blood trails, though… It looked like the bodies had been dragged away."


	11. Chaper Ten

Helena watched as the RRTS moved out, having been ordered by their Sargent to find the other scientist from Doctor Carmack's team and the bodies of those who'd been trapped inside when the labs had been locked down. Helena had tried to convince them that it was pointless and that they all needed to leave, like yesterday, but they hadn't listened to her.

They didn't believe her.

And she knew it'd only be a matter of time before the imps began picking them off one by one.

Then the hell creatures would turn their attention to the airlock.

It wouldn't take them long to get through, because these weren't just mindless creatures, they'd once been human. They'd know how to get through. Even if they couldn't override the lock they'd find another way. There was more than enough equipment within the lads for them to cut their way out, if they had to.

Plus, they were the worst kind of predators.

They were intelligent predators.

Sighing Helena shut her eyes for a moment as she rested a hand over her injured side. The imps were going to rip the RRTS to pieces. Helena opened her eyes and looked across the room to where Sam was working. What could she do? She had no weapons. She had no idea what it'd take to kill one them either.

Any wound she could inflict would just heal…

"You okay?" A voice beside her asked.

Helena looked round and stared at Duke and meet his concerned gaze.

"Yeah," Helena answered after a moment. "The wound just a little uncomfortable that's all."

Duke snorted.

"What's so funny?" Helena asked slightly defensively.

"You," Duke shook his head with a small smile.

"Me?" Helena questioned.

"Yeah," Duke nodded. "You get your side sliced open my one of those monsters and it's just 'uncomfortable'."

"High pain tolerance," Helena shrugged one shoulder.

"Uh huh," Duke nodded, but it was clear he didn't believe her.

Helena just rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly.

Only to do a double take, when she noticed the bed Doctor Carmack had been lying on was empty, from the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Sam," Helena called across the room to where Sam was in the process of running a blood test. "Did you move Carmack?"

"No," Sam answered, not even glancing up from her work.

"Sam," Helena's tone made Sam look up. "Doctor Carmack... He's gone."

Sam spun on her heels and her gaze fell on the empty bed.

"Where did he go?" Sam demanded. "He wasn't even in a fit state to move!"

Helena stared at the empty bed. She had a very good idea about what had happened and where Doctor Carmack had gone and it wasn't good news. Because Helena was willing to bet Doctor Carmack was infected and was beginning to mutate.

~*~

"We heard something in Genetics," Reaper spoke into his comm. "We're re-entering."

" _That's affirmative, Reaper,_ " Sarge answered.

"Looks like we missed the party," Reaper said as they entered the room Goat and Portman had searched not long before.

The animal cages were now empty and it appeared that something had ripped the cages open and all that was left of the animals were bloody remains caught in the metal. The jars which had covered the desk and shelves were smashed and the experiments which had been in progress, lay in ruins.

"We were just here," Goat shook his head in disbelief. "What happened to all the animals?"

They both turned suddenly, as they hear a noise. They turned to see a man dressed in a lab coat standing over one of the cages at the back of the room. He ripped open the cage door and they heard a squeaking noise, as the man pulled a white rat from the cage.

"Sir, RRTS," Reaper called across to him. "We're here to help. Sir, are you okay?"

The man turned to face them with the rat in his hand and as Reaper and Goat watched he bit off its head and ate it.

"Okay…" Reaper muttered slightly unnerved by the display.

The man quickly ate the other half of the rat and sucked up its tail like he's eating a piece of spaghetti. Suddenly he reached backwards, all the while not taking his eyes off Reaper and Goat, and picked up a knife which had been lying on the counter beside the cages.

"No, no, no," Reaper quickly warned the man as he saw him pick up the blade from the counter. "Sir, put it down."

The man raised the blade and suddenly charged towards them.

Left with no other choice, both Reaper and Goat open fire and the force of the bullets sent the man flying backwards and he landed in a bloody heap.

" _Contact report,_ " Sarge ordered through the comm.

"Damn it," Reaper cursed walking over to the body. "We found another one of the scientists... Some weird shit's going on here, Sarge."

" _Can you ID him?_ "

"We got a Doctor Olsen," Reaper answered, kneeling beside the body and unclipping the mans' ID.

"He rushed us. Crazy. Just like Carmack." Goat added.

" _Is he dead?_ "

"Yeah, very," Reaper replied. "Should we bag him and tag him?"

" _Affirmative,_ " Sarge answered. " _Then continue your search._ "

~*~

Helena watched as Goat and Reaper carried a body into the infirmary. She knew who it was and she quickly looked away and shut her eyes, letting a couple of tears roll down her cheeks as she did so. Doctor Olsen had been a friend and she'd enjoyed working with him.

"Don't!" Sam suddenly yelled.

Helena quickly turned her attention back to Goat and Reaper, to see they had been about to set the body down on one of the beds.

"Through there," Sam ordered, pointing off to a side room home to three beds, one of which was already in use.

She watched as Goat and Reaper did what they were told and she couldn't fault Sam's reasoning for keeping the bodies in a separate room. After all, who wanted to be working in the same room as a dead body? Also if any other survivors were found, as unlikely as that would be, they'd need that bed for treatment… Not to mention the fact the room was secure and if Doctor Olsen mutated, they'd have a chance to run before he smashed his way out.

Reaper and Goat had just stepped back into the main room of the infirmary, when Helena's gaze suddenly snapped upwards. She could hear something, but she wasn't sure where the noise was coming from. In the ceiling above her were countless pipes and even a ventilation shaft, but it was entirely possible the noise was coming from the floor above the infirmary. Helena still hadn't been able to work out just how good her hearing was…

"Hey," Goat suddenly said, causing Helena to snap her gaze towards him and she winced as the movement pulled at her injury. "Where's Doctor Carmack?"

"We don't know," Sam answered.

"Well, he couldn't have just disappeared," Reaper replied. "The guy could hardly walk on his own and was a quivering mess!"

"Trust us, man," Duke intervened before Sam could start at argument with her twin brother. "One moment he was there, then he wasn't."

"You must have heard him leaving," Goat stared at them.

Duke shook his head, "Heard nothing, man. He was there one moment and gone the next."

"Sarge," Reaper spoke into his comm. "Doctor Carmack has gone walkabout."

" _Copy that, Reaper,_ " Sarge answered. " _All units keep your eyes peeled for Doctor Carmack._ "

Glancing at the ceiling again, Helena frowned. Something was definitely up there, but the question was what? There wasn't really all that much up on the second floor. Almost all of the labs were on the same floor, the upper floors were mostly storage for the digging equipment as it was closer to the surface and easier to move when getting it to the dig site.

"Hey," A voice asked softly from beside her, only it didn't startle her, it caused her to relax instinctively. "You alright?"

Helena glanced sideways and found Reaper standing beside her. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. Why had Sam never told her that her twin brother was so hot? But then from what Sam had told her, there was a lot of bad blood between Sam and her twin brother.

"I'm fine, Reaper," Helena answered.

"My name's John," Reaper told her.

"I know," Helena replied, with a mischievous grin. "But I like Reaper better."

"Hey, lover boy," Duke called across the room. "Sarge will have all our asses, if you don't get yours back to work."

Helena laughed as she saw the tiniest of blushes colour Reapers cheeks


	12. Chapter Eleven

Reaper and Goat had just exited the infirmary when something big and dark in colour dropped from the ceiling behind them and run in the opposite direction. Reaper and Goat turned just in time to catch a glimpse of it and fire their weapons before it vanished from sight.

"Move, move, move." Reaper yelled, as he and Goat got into formation and began to chase after it. "I got it."

"Clear!" Goat said as they reached the end of the hallway and looked round the corner. "Go, go, go!"

Reaper moved passed him and entered the hallway the thing had gone down, just in time to see it vanish around another a corner. Both he and Goat run after it, keeping their weapons at the ready.

" _Reaper, what have you got?_ " Sarge asked over the comm.

"We're chasing something," Reaper answered.

" _What do you mean, something?_ "

"Something big, not human."

" _God damn it! Give me a confirmation on what you're seeing._ "

"Reaper," Goat hissed and nodded toward the hole in the floor, the thing they were chasing had just disappeared down it.

"It's in the sewer," Reaper informed Sarge. "All units, all units. Southeast corridor near the med lab."

It didn't take long for the rest of the RRTS to reach them and they stood around the hole in the floor, looking down a narrow tunnel which led into the sewers below the facility.

"And I thought 'being in the shit' was a figure of speech," Portman said.

"Get in the goddamn hole, Portman," Sarge snapped and Portman did so.

" _The tunnel ahead is the main junction,_ " Pinky informed them, once they had all entered the sewer. " _It leads back under the lab complex._ "

"Destroyer," Sarge ordered. "Cover the exit."

Destroyer nodded and took up his position and readied his weapon.

Whatever they had chased down here wasn't going to get past him while he still had breath left in his body. The rest of the RRTS began walking through the sewer, the water they waded through was almost up to their waists. Sarge suddenly pulled a dirty white lab coat from the water, but the ID tag was missing.

"Move out," Sarge ordered, as he threw the lab coat to one side.

Reaper suddenly looked round and back down the tunnel they had just walked along. He could have sworn there had been something behind him, but the tunnel was empty. Turning back round, he missed the shadow that crossed the tunnel and disappeared into the darkness.

"Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walketh about seeking whom he may devour." Goat muttered as they continued along the tunnel.

"That's real comforting, Goat," Portman replied sarcastically. "That ain't freaking me out at all."

Suddenly Portman disappeared under the water, with a startled yell.

"Portman!" Goat yelled, but he couldn't see Portman through the murky water.

"What the fuck!" Sarge turned, startled by the sudden noise and composition.

"Move," Reaper yelled, suddenly running towards the group. "Move."

He quickly ducked down into the water and began to feel around under the water looking for Portman. Goat and the Kid quickly joined his search, but they could find no sign of Portman.

"Wait!" Reaper suddenly said. "Somebody's down there. Come on. Grab an arm."

Quickly Goat and the Kid grabbed hold of the person Reaper had caught hold of, hoping it was Portman and not the body that went with the lab coat Sarge had just found.

"Goddamn son of a batch is heavy!" Reaper gasped, as he, Goat and the Kid pulled the person out of the water.

The finally pulled the person up and almost free of the water.

It was Portman.

"Quick," Goat said, as Portman began to slip from his grip. "He's slipping back."

"He's slipping." The Kid began to panic.

"Hang on," Reaper yelled,

And finally they pulled Portman completely free from where he'd been trapped and he gasped for breath.

"Shit," Portman gasped, coughing.

"Portman," Sarge demanded. "What the hell happened?"

"I fell in the damn hole," Portman answered.

"Shit," Reaper muttered, shaking his head slightly.

"Everybody, on me," Sarge barked. "And watch your goddamn footing!"

"Shit," Portman cursed and they carried on.

~*~

Helena watched from the bed she was sitting on as the results from Doctor Carmack's blood test came through. She heard Sam curse under her breath and watched as Duke made his way over to her.

"What's going on?" Duke asked, as Sam frowned at the computer screen.

'No blood match' the results on the screen read.

"That can't be good, right?" Duke questioned.

"This is crazy," Sam muttered, shaking her head.

"Like I keep telling you," Helena spoke up. "His DNA has changed. He's been infected with C-24, his very DNA has changed!"

"You expect us to believe people are turning into monsters?" Duke asked, turning to her.

"How else could I have gotten injuries like I have?" Helena replied. "Yeah, we have animals here, but nothing big enough to do damage like that."

"But it's crazy!"

"Yeah and so is taking a blood sample, only for it not to match his DNA records," Helena snapped back.

"Helena," Sam interrupted them. "Come help me."

"With what?" Helena asked, getting up and walking over to Sam.

"We need to find out what it is," Sam said. "Whatever it is, that's in Doctor Carmack's blood."

Helena looked at the blood sample Sam was holding up. The black lumps in Doctor Carmack's blood seemed to have gotten bigger while the blood had been analysed during the blood test. Helena carefully took the syringe from Sam's hand and moved over to one of the tables and squirted a little bit of blood into a petri dish and walked over to a microscope set up on one of the tables.

Looking through the microscope, it didn't take long for Helena to see what the black lumps in Doctor Carmack's blood were. His blood was decomposing at an alarming rate! The dead blood cells were clumping together to form the black masses. Helena had never seen anything like it before and her own blood certainly hadn't been doing anything like it and she'd been injected with C-24 for far longer than Doctor Carmack had been.

It must be a side-effect of the mutation.

~*~

The tunnel suddenly branched off in three direction and Sarge held up his hand signalling the group to stop. He looked down each of the tunnels, before turning back to the group.

"Goat, straight ahead," Sarge ordered.

"Sir," Goat acknowledged him, breaking formation and moving past the group. He headed along the middle tunnel and it wasn't until he was out of sight, his scope light flickered off.

"Portman, you're with me," Sarge continued. "Reaper, take the Kid and go to the right."

Reaper and the Kid slowly made their way along the right tunnel, when a noise from behind them caught Reaper's attention. He spun on his heels and the Kid quickly mimicked him. But the hallway was empty.

"You lost your folks, right?" The Kid said suddenly, lowering his weapon and turning towards Reaper.

"Shut up," Reaper ordered, keeping his attention on the tunnel in front of him.

"Small world," The kid carried on talking, as Reaper slowly lowered his weapon and carried on the walking the way they had been heading. "I mean, I lost my parents, too. Yeah, I mean, I woke up one morning... And everything was gone. I mean, the only thing left was me. They wanted the TV more than they wanted me."

"Ah!" The Kid suddenly let out a startled cry as Reaper pushed him up against the wall of the tunnel.

"Shh!" Reaper hissed. "Every time you open your mouth, you give away our position."

Reaper paused and stared at the Kid for a moment, before moving his scope light to see the Kid's face more clearly.

"Wait a minute," Reaper said. "Your pupils are dilated. Are you high?"

"What?" The Kid asked, startled. "No, I got this condition..."

"I don't give a damn!" Reaper snapped. "You take one more shot of that shit, and I'll blow holes in you. Are we clear?"

"Okay," The Kid nodded and Reaper let go of him and carried on walking.

Suddenly he heard the noise again and glanced over his shoulder. He saw something move and whatever it was, it wasn't human. And then his view of the creature was cut off by the Kid stepping into his line of sight.

"Get down!" Reaper ordered.

"I'm sorry, look, I just needed a little-"

"Get down!" Reaper yelled and the Kid quickly ducked.

But the creature was gone.

"Goat, I think there's something coming up on you," Reaper spoke into his comm.


	13. Chapter Twelve

"This isn't happening," Goat said to himself before answering Reaper over the comm. "My light is down. I don't see anything."

" _Don't move,_ " Reaper replied. " _I'm on my way._ "

"Pinky," Goat spoke into his comm again as he moved and looked down the tunnel. "Can you see anything?"

He was hoping Pinky would be able to see something through the link to his cam, but that hope was shattered the moment Pinky answered with:

" _No. Nothing._ "

Goat turned and looked down the tunnel behind him, having heard a noise. Slowly he moved forward and froze when he saw a pair of eyes staring at from the darkness.

"Dr. Willits?" Goat asked upon seeing the eyes were human.

But the only answer he got was multiple sets of eyes suddenly opening and a creature like nothing he had ever seen before leaping forward into the low light and burying its teeth in his neck. Goat let out a scream of pain and terror as he was forced backwards into the wall of the tunnel. And as Goat slummed to the floor, the creature having let go of him, it left some sort of worm behind, which slowly slithered into Goats neck.

" _Goat!_ " Reaper screamed through the comm. " _Goat, what's your position? Goat, where are you? Goat, speak to me!_ "

Finally Reaper reached where Goat was and the sudden light appearing round the corner from his scope caused the creature to run off, but not before he manged to shot at it.

" _God damn it, Reaper,_ " Sarge yelled through the comm. " _Report to me._ "

But Reaper ignored him as he slowly edged his way forward towards a turn in the tunnel. Behind him the Kid was kneeling beside Goat and putting pressure on his wound. He approached the turn and was just about to step around it, when the creature jumped out and tried to knock his weapon from his hands, but failed. Without a moment's hesitation, Reaper began firing and the creature fell backwards into the water. Dead.

"You're dead," Reaper said with satisfaction, before spinning on his heels and rushing over to where the Kid was still kneeling beside Goat.

" _Contact report,_ " Sarge demanded.

"Man down," Reaper yelled in reply. "Man down!"

~*~

Helena looked up as the RRTS burst through the nanowall into the infirmary. Sarge and Portman were carrying Goat between them. Sarge quickly lifted Goat up onto one of the examination table and the RRTS burst into action around them. Helena quickly pressed a hand over her face as the scent of blood reached her.

"What happened?" Sam demanded, rushing over to them.

"He was talking about devils," Portman answered, as he readied an IV line.

"Devils?" Sam asked confused, as she looked down at Goat.

"All his Bible shit," Portman carried on talking. "Angels. Good and evil. Devils among us."

"Let's get this vest off him," Reaper ordered.

"His airway's clear," Destroy said.

"Got a weak pulse," Duke added.

"Portman," Reaper ordered. "Get me a line in here."

"Come on, man," Destroyer said, he placed an oxygen mask over Goats face.

"Kid, keep pressure on that wound," Reaper ordered as he pulled on a pair of surgical gloves. "How's the pulse?"

"I'm losing him," Duke answered.

"Sam," Reaper glanced at his sister. "Get me a shot of adrenaline."

"We've lost the pulse," Duke exclaimed as the heart monitor began screaming.

"Okay, let's defib," Reaper ordered.

"Come on, man," Destroyer said.

"Clear!" Reaper ordered and Goat body jolted as the shock went through him, but it wasn't enough to restart his heart.

"Where the hell's Carmack?" Sarge suddenly demanded, noticing the doctor was gone.

"He disappeared," Helena answered.

"What do you mean 'he disappeared'?" Sarge demanded.

"He's gone," Helena stared at him, what part of 'he disappeared' did this man not understand? "He disappeared."

"Still no pulse," Duke said.

"Shit," Reaper cursed. "Okay. Gonna defib again. Clear!"

"Come on. Come on." Destroyer muttered over and over again like a prayer.

"No response," Reaper said, looking at the heart monitor.

"We're losing him," Duke exclaimed.

"Sam, give me that adrenaline," Reaper ordered and Sam quickly handed him a syringe.

"Come on," Reaper muttered as he injected the adrenaline straight into Goats heart. "You son of a bitch."

But again nothing happened.

"Okay, going again," Reaper said. "Clear!"

And still nothing happened.

"He's gone," Reaper said in defeat, ducking his head and shutting his eye for a second.

He had been too slow to save Goat's life.

"Doctor," Sarge grabbed Helena by the arm and pulled her with him, as he walked across the room. "You are going to tell me just what the fuck is going on up here!"

Helena cried out in pain as the sudden movement pulled at her injury.

"Let go of me!" Helena ordered, but Sarge just ignored her. "I've told you everything I know. I even warned you! But you didn't listen and now one of your team is dead! What more do you want from me?"

"This is 'what'," Sarge answered her, pushing her towards the table and pulling back the top of a body bag to reveal an imp lay dead.

She hadn't seen them bring it in, but it was definitely one of the imp like creatures those infected were mutating into.

"Oh my god!" Sam gasped in horror upon seeing the creature.

"I've already explained this to you!" Helena glared at Sarge. "Those infected, _mutate_. This is someone who has mutated!"

"Have you found anything like this on your archaeological digs?" Sarge turned to face Sam, who was still staring at the imp in horror.

"God no!" She whispered horrified.

"Is there any way this thing came from the outside, from the surface?"

"The planet is completely dead!"

"It came from somewhere, lady," Portman pointed out.

"Portman, shut up!" Sarge ordered.

"The atmosphere on the surface can't support life," Sam explained.

"Maybe it doesn't need air," Portman argued. "It could have come from another planet or something."

"What? Like an alien?" Sam snapped.

"Look at that thing!" Portman yelled.

"Portman!" Sarge yelled. "You need to shut the fuck up!"

"That's not what we saw," Reaper suddenly spoke up. "That isn't what Goat and I shot at."

"You telling me there's more of these fucking things?" Portman demanded in disbelief.

"Where are your surface entry points?" Sarge asked.

"There's a pressure door at the end of the north corridor," Sam answered.

"Destroyer, Kid, Portman, get there on the double," Sarge ordered. "Give me an update."

"Yes, sir." Destroyer answered.

"Whatever this thing is, it cannot get back through to the Ark," Sarge said, before speaking into his comm. "Mac, I want you to arm Pinky with a weapon. With some ST grenades, and seal the Ark door."

"There's one other door," Helena cut in.

"Where?" Sarge demanded.

"The entrance to the archaeological dig," Reaper answered.

" _Ark secure,_ " Mac answered.

~*~

"Shit," Helena cursed as she dropped the torch she was holding into the mouth of the dead imp and hugged her side a sharp pain shot through her. "I'm going to go sit down for a moment."

Sam nodded and watched as Helena crossed the room to one of the beds and sat down.

"Duke," Sam called across to where Duke was standing guard. "Hold this open."

Duke walked over and looked down at the imp.

"Don't be a wuss," Sam teased him.

Duke carefully moved his hands and held the dead imp's mouth open. Helena grinned as she watched the two of them working together. She almost laughed when Sam caught Duke trying to look down her top and glared at him, causing Duke to give her a sheepish look.

"Little tension between you and Reaper?" Duke questioned as Sam reached into the imps mouth to get the torch back.

"We just went our separate ways," Sam answered. "Why does a talented student throw it all away and join the RRTS?"

"So, what was he like before?"

"Who, John?" Sam asked as she pulled the torch out and wiped it clean.

"Yeah."

"Empathetic, sensitive."

"It's kind of hard for me to imagine Reaper as sensitive," Duke snorted. "Well other than when he's chatting up _Angel_ over there."

Sam glanced round at Helena. She had to admit her friend was definitely her brother's type.

"I knew Reaper before all the 'drop down and give me 50, woo-ha' stuff," Sam said, picking up a scalpel and looked back at Duke.

"Yeah?" Duke said. "Well, it's hua..."

"Hua." Sam deadpanned.

"Yeah," Duke laughed.

"Do you have a family?" Sam suddenly asked, as she began to cut into the imp's chest.

"I have Destroyer. You know, we grew up together."

"You know, Duke," Sam said, looking up at him. "I bet secretly you have a big heart."

"Oh, yeah?" Duke grinned leaning forward. "And that's not the only secret big thing I got."

Helena laughed from where she was sitting and Sam rolled her eyes.

"Little rusty, huh?"

"Oh, lady, you have no idea. Right now, having sex with me is practically your civic duty."

Suddenly the scalpel Sam was using snapped.

"I need a power bone saw," Sam muttered.

"A power bone saw?" Duke grinned. "Girl, I've been waiting on you my whole life."

"There's one in the procedure room," Sam smiled at Duke. "Down the corridor, on the left, through the nanowall."

"Through the nanowall?" Duke gulped. "All right, I got it. It's cool. For you I got it, 'cause you're pretty."

"Cool," Sam muttered.

"I wouldn't do it for a dude, you know."

"Off you go," Sam waved him towards the nanowall.

"He likes you," Helena laughed once Duke had disappeared through the nanowall.

"Shut up," Sam blushed.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Helena looked up as the lights began to flicker. Across the room from her Sam stopped working on the imp and the power died completely, leaving them with the only the dim light of the emergency lighting. Not that it affected Helena in the slightest.

"Duke?" Sam called, turning her attention to the nanowall.

But she got no reply. Sam glanced round at Helena, before slowly setting the tool she was using down and walking across the room to the nanowall.

"Duke?" She called again.

Once again she got no reply. Stepping through the nanowall, Sam looked down the hallway. There's was nobody in sight. Looking back through the nanowall, Sam almost jumped upon seeing Helena standing on the other side of it.

"Go look for him," Helena said. "I'll keep guard."

Sam nodded, turned and began to walk down the hallway.

"Duke?" She called again, picking up speed. "Duke!"

Sam turned around the corner and screamed as she almost run into Duke, who grabbed hold of her.

"Hey, hey, hey," Duke muttered. "It's just a power shortage."

Sam just lent against the wall as she tried to get her heart rate back to a normal rate and breathing under control.

"You okay?" Duke asked.

Sam just nodded.

"Here's your bone saw," Duke held out the tool and Sam reached up and took it from him.

"Sam!" A voice yelled, it was Helena's. "Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine," Sam yelled back, before turning back to Duke. "We should get back."

"So, which of you is the oldest?" Duke asked as they walked.

"What?" Sam asked, before realising what he was asking. "Oh, me. By two minutes."

"Twins? Shit," Duke muttered. "Identical, right?"

Sam laughed, before a noise in the hallway caused them both to freeze.

Duke spun round only to be greeted by the site of an empty hall. But suddenly a growl had Sam turning to see a dog bearing its fangs in the entrance to another hallway.

"Sam, get back in the lab," Duke ordered, turning his weapon towards the dog.

Slowly Sam backed up, edging along the hallway, to where Helena was stood on the other side of the nanowall watching. The dog continued to bark and growl, foam dripping down from its mouth and its fangs flashed in the low light. Sam almost screamed as Helena reached through the nanowall, grabbed her and pulled her through it.

Back in the hallway the dog suddenly stopped barking and backed away before running off in fright.

"Duke!" Helena yelled. "Behind you!"

Duke spun round and came face to face with an imp. Behind Helena, Sam screamed.

"Shit!" Duke yelled and began firing, but his weapon jammed and the imp knocked him backwards, sending him crashing to the floor.

Looking round wildly, Helena spotted the bone saw in Sam's hand and grabbed it. Without thinking she ran through the nanowall, down the hallway and jumped on the creature, stabbing the bone saw deep into its body. It let out an unearthly scream and Helena quickly let go of it and grabbed Duke, pulled him to his feet and dragging him back along the hallway.

"Motherfucker!" Duke exclaimed as they moved and pulled out his handgun.

They crashed through the nanodoor and Duke collided with Sam sending them both to the floor.

"Close it!" Duke yelled.

Helena did as she was told and deactivated the nanowall, turning it solid, from where she stood doubled over in pain and gasping.

That had hurt, she shouldn't have moved like that.

"And that's why I don't do nanowalls," Duke said and Helena stared up at the imp which was now trapped within the nanowall.

It had been halfway through the wall when it turned solid and was twitching in its trapped position. Reaching forwards, Helena pulled the bone saw from where she'd stabbed it into the creature. She turned to look at Sam and Duke, just as the imp sent a worm like creature at the two of them, but it missed them both and went sliding across the floor. Sam just collapsed against Duke, who hugged her closer.

~*~

"Pinky," Sarge spoke into his comm. "We're entering the archaeological dig."

Reaper and Mac looked round, when suddenly a squeaking noise filled the air. Sarge and Reaper shared and look and a nod, before Reaper turned away.

"Secure the exit," Sarge ordered Mac, who nodded.

Slowly Reaper and Sarge made their way through the room leading out into the dig site. Rocks were scattered across tables and weapons and tools hung on the walls. A growl and the sound of rocks being knocked off a table had Reaper spinning round, but there was nothing there. He carried on walking until he reached a window, which looked out over the dig sight.

"Is this where it happened?" Sarge asked, suddenly standing next to Reaper.

He was referring to the accident which killed his parents when he and Sam were children.

"Did you find the door?" Reaper asked instead of answering.

Sarge stared at Reaper for a moment before he walked off.

" _Reaper?_ " Sarge called through the comm moments later and Reaper finally turned away from the window.

It didn't take him long to catch up with Sarge, who was kneeling beside two bloody, dead bodies.

"Clay," Sarge said as he checked their ID's. "Thurman… Look at them. They weren't trying to stop something from getting in. Something stopped them from getting out."

Sarge got his feet and turned around and walked back the way he had come, Reaper at his heels.

"Mac, stand by," Sarge spoke into his comm. "Destroyer, report."

" _We've reached the north airlock,_ " Destroyer answered. " _It's secure. Console indicates nothing's come in or out for 26 hours._ "

A noise from upheld which caused Reaper to freeze.

"Mac?" Reaper whispered.

"Mac," Sarge called into his comm, before he and Reaper began running. "Mac… Mac, you copy? Talk to me… Talk to me, Mac."

Finally they reached the exit to the dig site equipment room and the sight which greeted them was a gory one. Someone or something had cut Mac's head clean off in a single swipe. There was blood everywhere and Mac's head had rolled across the room and come to a rest against the far wall.

"Shit," Sarge cursed, being the first to reach the body. "Jesus Christ!"

A growl filled the air and Reaper looked round, caching sight of an imp in the hallway behind him. He fired at it and it ran.

"Contact!" Reaper yelled as he took off running after it, with Sarge hot on his heels.

"We're in pursuit," Sarge spoke into his comm. "Moving fast out of the dig. Pinky, what do you see?"

" _It's big,_ " Pinky answered. " _Very big. Moving fast, back towards the main lab complex._ "

"Clear," Reaper said, as they tuned into another hallway.

"It's going back to the lab," Sarge said seeing the blood trail on the floor.

"Damn, it's fast," Reaper said, as he and Sarge came to a halt having lost sight of it.

Suddenly the sound of running footsteps reach their ears and they look round to see Destroyer, Portman and the Kid approaching at speed.

"All around defence, men," Sarge ordered once they reached him.

"Did you get it?" The Kid asked.

Sarge shook his head before speaking into his comm once more, "Pinky."

" _Yes, Sarge?_ "

"I want you to evacuate the entire facility," Sarge ordered. "Get everyone to the Ark now. And if anything gets through the airlock, that isn't us, use an ST grenade. It cannot get back to Earth."

"If he pops an ST in there, he's gonna blow the Ark," Portman pointed out. "If he blows the Ark, how the hell are we supposed to get the fuck home?"

"Reaper, Kid, cover formation," Sarge ordered ignoring Portman. "Sweep the corridors. Go… Destroyer, you and Portman stay here. Guard the airlock. Maintain a perimeter."

"We're not calling in backup?" Portman demanded, dropping his weapon to the floor.

"The air lock is sealed and the civilians are being evacuated," Sarge replied. "Nothing gets out of here until everything on this planet is dead."

"You're serious?"

"Pick up your weapon, Portman," Reaper quickly cut in.

"Come on, Portman, move out," Destroyer added, looking nervously at Sarge.

"Didn't y'all see how that thing greased Goat?" Portman turned to them. "We don't know what we're dealing with here. It's SOP to call in reinforcements when a situation-"

"We are the reinforcements," Sarge cut him off. "Now, you shoulder your fucking weapon soldier and guard the fucking door!"

"Where you going?" Destroyer asked after Portman had picked up his weapon.

"I'm going to the armoury. I think we're gonna need something... With a little bit more kick," Sarge answered before going through the airlock.

~*~

"This is bullshit, man," Portman complained as he and Destroyer stood guard by the airlock. "I enlisted to serve my country, not get greased protecting some corporation's goddamn science project… I gotta take a dump."

"What?" Destroyer said. "Now?"

"Unless you want me shitting my pants right here," Portman answered.

Destroyer just rolled his eyes and Portman grinned at him before walking off down the hallway towards the toilets. He entered the toilets and checked each of the cubicles, before finally entering one and sitting down. He pulled out his comm device and set down his weapon and began to input a new frequency.

" _Portman,_ _I've got floor and wall on your gun cam,_ " Pinky's voice suddenly sounded through his ear piece.

"I'm taking a shit, you fucking gimp," Portman answered, before switching off his comm.

He successfully inputted the new frequency and he grinned to himself.

"This is Corporal Dean Portman, with RRTS 6 Special Ops on Olduvai, 0310 hours," Portman said. "We require immediate RRST reinforcements. We have encountered hostile activity. I repeat, we require immediate RRTS reinforcements."

Suddenly a noise caught Portman's attention and he froze. Slowly he picked up his weapon and removed the clip. It was empty. He carefully placed the empty clip on the floor and pulled a new one from his belt, but as he went to load it, another sudden noise from above him caused him to drop it and it went sliding across the floor.

Looking up, Portman stared at the ventilation shaft and waited, but no further noises sounded. Slowly Portman got down on his hands and knees and looked under the toilet door. The toilets was empty. Cursing under his breath, Portman began to crawl under the cubicle walls towards where his clip had fallen and slid to.

He finally reached where he clip and fallen and reloaded his weapon, before standing up and opening the cubicle door of the toilet he was now in and looked round. Hearing the noise again he shone his scope light towards the source of the noise, only to see a small white rat running across the floor. He let out a laugh and stepped backwards and closed the door, only to be grabbed from above and pulled through the ceiling by an imp.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Elsewhere back in the hallway, a growl caught Destroyer attention. He slowly turned in the direction of the noise and clicked off the safety of his weapon. He slowly moved down the hallway following the sound, until finally he entered the room with a holding cell in the centre. The same one Portman and Goat had investigated earlier.

Suddenly he was pushed forward, down into the cell. Landing on the floor far below Destroyer groaned in pain and reached for his weapon, only to find it missing. He had dropped it when he'd been pushed forwards into the holding cell. Forcing himself to his feet, Destroyer looked round and blinked up at the swinging light fixture above him and the chains hanging down from the ceiling, which were half hidden in darkness above the swinging light.

There was no sign of what had pushed him into the holding cell, though and the room was silent apart from the squeaking of the swinging light fixture. It was only then he realised the thing that had pushed him into the holding cell was in the cell with him. Spinning round he pushed the desk into the electrified wall of the cell, lighting up the cell for a couple of moments.

The imp growled at him and suddenly charged at him, sending Destroyer flying into the wall and pinning him there. Electricity passed through them both and it was almost painful. Destroyer finally managed to pull a knife from his belt and stabbed it into the imps back, causing the imp to scream in pain and drop him to the floor. Destroyer quickly rolled away and to his feet, before he moved and grabbed a metal pipe which was lying on the far side of the cell, hidden in the shadows and swung it at the imp and successful knocked it out.

Turning Destroyer grabbed hold of one of the chains which was hanging from the ceiling and began to pull himself out of the cell, but while he was doing so the imp regained consciousness. The imp moved quickly and grabbed the bottom of the chain and pulled it, causing Destroyer to fall as the chain was pulled from the ceiling. He crashed to the ground and his skull cracked open upon impact.

He was dead.

Meanwhile back in the hallway Sarge had returned through the airlock with a weapon from the UAC facilities armoury, only to find no one guarding the airlock.

"Pinky," Sarge growled into his comm. "Where are Portman and Destroyer?"

" _I've lost Portman on the comms,_ " Pinky answered. " _And all I've got on Destroyer is a wall._ "

"Portman, come in," Sarge ordered as he began to make his way through the hallways. "Destroyer, come in."

But he got no response and the hallways were eerily quiet.

"Destroyer, Portman, where the hell are you?" Sarge hissed.

Finally Sarge reached the room with the holding cell and as he stepped into the room, he spotting Destroyer's weapon on the floor. Sarge moved forward to the edge of holding cell. Shining his scope light down into the cell, he was greeted by the sight of Destroyer's dead body. Eye still open and a pool of blood surrounding his head like a halo.

Suddenly the sound of screaming filled the air and Sarge spun round and began running.

The screams sounded an awful lot like Portman.

" _Pinky, you got Portman?_ " Reaper's voice sounded over the comm.

" _No,_ " Pinky answered. " _I've got visual, but I can't get a trance on his location._ "

Sarge entered the toilets seconds after Reaper and the Kid, who had began firing at the imp that was swinging Portman around like a rag toy. He raised his new weapon and pulled the trigger. A blue substance shot from the weapon and burned through the ceiling, vaporising the imp and most of the ceiling around it.

"Holy shit," Sarge said, looking down at the weapon in awe.

"He's gone," The Kid said, who had moved to check on Portman and found no pulse.

~*~

"Jesus," Duke muttered as he watched Helena and Sam cut open the dead imps' body. "You see anything like it before?"

"Heart," Helena said pulling out the first organ and placing it in a metal dish.

"Liver," Sam pulled out another.

"Kidneys," Helena held them up.

"Dogs got kidneys, right?" Duke said, refusing to believe it was a mutated human like Helena kept telling them it was. "Pigs got kidneys."

"Its had its appendix removed," Sam said. "It's human."

"What the fuck!?" Duke exclaimed.

"Goat knew he was turning," Helena said, denying the urge to point and Duke and yell 'I told you so!'.

It would certainly explain why he'd killed himself, even though he'd already been dead. The C-24 had bought him back to life and he'd worked out what was happening and decided to crack his head open on the glass widow which separated the room he was in from the rest of the infirmary... He hadn't been trying to break through it, he'd been trying to stop himself from turning into a monster. That certainly explained why he crossed his chest in a prayer before he did so.

"This thing didn't butcher Willits," Sam muttered. "It is Willits."

"What?" Duke demanded, before turning at the sound of something coming through the door to the infirmary.

They all turned to see Sarge walking towards them with a body in his arms.

"Destroyer?" Duke questioned disbelieving, seeing the body in Sarge's arms.

"And Portman," Reaper said as he followed Sarge in, with the body of Portman over one shoulder.

"What the fuck happened, man?" Duke demanded, as he took Destroyer's body from Sage, who was more interested in the imp trapped in the nanowall. "I got him, I got him. Destroyer, I got you, man."

"What the hell is this?" Sarge said, gesturing to the imp. "And whose goddamn blood is on that window?"

"Goat's," Sam answered.

"He killed himself," Helena added.

"What do you mean, he killed himself?" Sarge demanded. "He was already dead."

"It's true," Duke came to their defence. "It's Goat. He was changing into one of these motherfuckers and he killed himself."

"We found two more scientists at the dig," Reaper cut in before Sarge could lose his temper at Sam and Helena. "Thurman and a balding guy with glasses."

"Doctor Clay," Helena said.

"Did you check their necks?" Sam asked, moving over to look at Portman's body. "Were there open wounds on their necks?"

"We were conducting a firefight, not an autopsy," Reaper answered.

"We came up here to find six scientists," Sarge yelled, getting angrier by the second. "Four are known dead and Doctor Willits is probably KIA somewhere down in that sewer. The only one missing is Doctor Carmack. Has Doctor Carmack showed up yet?"

"Oh, he's shown up all right," Duke answered bitterly.

"Look at the left ear," Helena said nodding towards the imp trapped in the nanowall.

"Son of a bitch," Sarge muttered as he did so and saw the ear was missing.

"I think this other one is Sara Willits," Sam said. "I'm going to run the DNA, check it against her med records."

"What are you people working on up here?" Sarge stalked towards Sam.

"We're analysing bones, artefacts," Sam replied, beginning to get stressed out and upset. "We're not doing anything like this."

"Then what the fuck is that?" Sarge yelled pointing at the imp.

"It must be a genetic mutation, something environmental or viral," Sam answered. "I don't know. It may even be reversible."

"It's irreversible," Sarge replied.

"Not necessarily," Sam argued.

"Doctor Carmack's condition is irreversible," Sarge said pulling out his hand gun.

"No!" Sam yelled, but it was too late, Sarge had shot the imp.

"Because Carmack's condition is that he's dead," Sarge turned back to face Sam. "Kid, you and Duke get back to the dig and you make sure those other dead scientists are really dead. I've lost four soldiers. What are you people experimenting with up here!?"

~*~

Sam backed away from Sarge as he walked towards her.

"I'm not gonna ask you again," Sarge threatened.

"I told you, it's an archaeological research centre. Do you think I'm lying to you? Is that what you're saying? You think I'm hiding something? I'm telling the truth." Sam answered, looking towards her brother for help.

"What were you downloading?" Reaper asked. "What were you sent to protect?"

"The research data."

"Research into what?"

"This," Helena suddenly said appearing out of nowhere and Sam jumped, she hadn't even noticed Helena had disappeared. "It took me a while to get over to our lab and finish the download... But you were so busy yelling at each other you didn't even notice."

Helena walked over to the computer and inserted the drive and clicked play.

" _Subject was injected with study agent at 00:03. Vitals normal, elevated heart rate attributable to subject anxiety. C-24 successfully grafted to subject's marker cells at 00:09._ "

"He reconstructed chromosome mutation on a human subject," Reaper sounded horrified.

"We were never going to do human studies," Helena explained. "But Doctor Carmack suddenly restricted some of his research, so only he and the other five scientists you were sent here to look for could access it… Myself and Sam were simply here to research what the chromosome was for, in hopes it could provide cures to diseases… The Martians had concurred disease, we were looking to do the same."

"What the hell are we looking at?" Sarge demanded.

"Genesis," Reaper answered. "Chapter 1."

Helena rolled her eyes at his dramatics.

"This is the G.O.D. Project," She corrected.

" _Subject moved to protected observation area at 00:17. Subject: Curtis Stahl. Crime: Multiple murder. Status: Condemned to execution._ "

"Chromosome 24," Helena carried on explaining. "Was synthesised from the remains we found. And it wasn't only tested on this prisoner. A couple of our own volunteered. They ended up the exact same way."

"Oh, my God." Reaper muttered, as he watched the screen.

" _49 minutes after injection, genetic mutations began to visually manifest on subject's extremities._ "

"This is what you're here to protect," Helena said, turning to Sam.

"It doesn't make any sense," Sam shook her head in confusion.

"You trusted them," Reaper said. "They lied to you. They used you, Sam."

"If he perfected xenogenesis..." Sam trailed off.

"Christ, don't you get it?" Reaper demanded. "It's this place. It's hell. It always was. This shit ends here."

Reaper reached forward and grabbed the drive.

"What are you doing?" Sarge demanded, grabbing Reaper by the arm.

"We need to destroy these discs," Reaper replied.

"That's UAC property," Sarge disagreed.

"Fuck UAC, we take this back, they'll just-"

"We take the data back."

"Sarge, do you not see what's going on here?"

"I didn't see shit. And I ain't paid to see shit. I have my orders. And so do you," He suddenly turned to Sam and Helena. "Is this everything?"

Sam stuttered.

"I said, is this everything!?"

"I, uh," Sam stuttered. "I have three more to download."

"Then do it," Sarge ordered.

" _Sarge?_ " The Kid said over the comm. " _We got a problem. One dead scientist is missing._ "

" _And the place is teeming with those motherfuckers,_ " Duke added.

"Move out," Sarge ordered. "Now."

"You just wanna leave them here?" Reaper demanded.

"She's got a job to do," Sarge said nodding to Sam, before looking at Helena. "And she's gonna help her."

"Look, this is Portman's comm," Reaper said turning to his sister and handing her the comm device. "You call if you need help, okay? You gonna be all right?"

"I'll be fine," Sam nodded taking the comm.

"Okay," Reaper said, as he glanced at Helena. "I'll see you both soon."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Sam stared after Reaper and Sarge in horror. She couldn't believe they has just left them there with no protection. They seemed to be harbouring under the belief that all the imps were heading for the Ark, but what if they were wrong? How were she and Helena supposed to defend themselves? Sam had no military training of any sort and Sam had never once shot someone with a gun, so she knew the chances of her hitting an imp and the shot being fatal, even if she did have a weapon, were very low.

"Wait here," Helena said.

"Where are you going?" Sam demanded as she watched Helena walk off.

"To get Goat's gun," Helena answered as she walked towards the side room. "Sarge took Portman's and Duke has Destroyer's, but no one picked up Goat's."

"Do you even know how to use a gun?" Sam questioned.

"How hard can it be?" Helena asked, as she entered the side room and walked over to where Goat's body had fallen.

She quickly pulled the hand gun from Goat's belt and pocketed the three fresh clips Goat had. Turing she quickly left the room, the smell of Goat's blood was beginning to make her feel sick. Sam watched her, frowning slightly.

"Have you ever used a gun before?" Sam asked.

"Once or twice," Helena answered. "My local county fair used to have a shooting range… I got dared to try it once. But that doesn't really count, does it?"

Sam just stared at Helena.

"Guns are dangerous," Sam finally said. "Especially if you don't know how to use them."

"Then I'll just have to learn," Helena grinned at her friend. "I'm a fast learner, Sam, it'll only take me a couple of shots."

Sam shook her head, "I don't like this, Helena."

"Trust me, I don't either," Helena sighed. "But what other choice do we have? They left us here with no protection… We have to walk halfway across the facility! What happens if one of those things catches us? We need a weapon to defend ourselves, because there's no way in hell I'm going to be able to out run one of those things with my injury… I just got lucky last time."

Sam nodded and picked up the discs she'd been downloading the research data onto. Together the two of them headed towards the door.

"Wait," Helena suddenly stopped. "What about Portman and Destroyer?"

"What about them?" Sam asked.

"What if they mutate?" Helena turned and hurried over to where Portman's body was.

She slowly raised Goat's hand gun and aimed for Portman's head. She couldn't believe she was about to do this. Portman was dead but she had to make sure he stayed that way. She pulled the trigger and ringing a sound filled her ears. She fired again. Once through the head and once through the heart.

Turning she walked towards where Destroyer body had been moved to and did the same. She turned to find Sam collecting a sample of Portman's brain matter. She stated at Sam for a moment trying to work out what the reasoning behind her actions were.

"What are you doing?" Helena asked.

"Portman has a wound on his neck," Sam explained. "And so did Goat. But Destroyer doesn't… Why? There must be a reason. Why have some people mutated and others haven't?"

Helena stared at Sam for a moment. That was a question she wanted the answer to, too. Why hadn't she mutated when she accidentally injected herself?

~*~

"Pinky," Sarge comm'ed Pinky as he and remaining members of the RRTS made their way towards the airlock. "Are you there? Pinky."

" _Sarge?_ " Pinky questioned. " _Something is cutting through the airlock._ "

"You have a visual?"

" _Oh, I got a visual all right!_ "

"Don't let it get to the Ark!" Sarge yelled, picking up the pace. "Pinky, use the grenade! Use the goddamn grenade! Throw it!"

They reached the airlock door and found something had successfully cut its way through the thick metal doors. They all climbed through the holes and ran towards the Pinky's desk.

"Fall in," Sarge ordered as they reached the desk Pinky had been working at. "Pinky's gone. That fucker ran."

And as Reaper knelt down to pick up the ST grenade Pinky had left behind the lights flickered off and everything powered down for a moment before switching back on.

"What the hell is that?" Duke yelled.

" _System reboot,_ " A computerised voice said. " _Time required to begin renewed operation: Five minutes._ "

"Quarantine cordon is breached. This mission is no longer containment," Sarge turned to his team. "Get all the weapons and ammo you can. We're going through. Move!"

"Sam, come in. Over," Reaper said into his comm as he moved. "Sam, do you read me? Over. Come in!"

Reaper turned to face Sarge, panic shinning in his eyes, "She's not answering,"

" _Time required to begin renewed operation: four minutes and 45 seconds,_ " The computerised voice sounded again.

"You got three," Sarge told him.

And Reaper set off running.

"Sam! Come in, Sam!" He yelled into his comm as he ran. "Sam!"

It didn't take him long to reach the infirmary, but the place was empty.

"Sam where the hell are you?" Reaper demanded.

" _We're back at the lab,_ " Helena's voice suddenly sounded through his comm. " _I'm so glad you care for me, Reaper. I didn't hear you call my name once._ "

Reaper didn't answer, he just started running, back towards the lab Sam had first taken him to before Helena had dropped in on them and they had moved to the infirmary and set up base there. Reaper run through the hallways, jumping over the bodies of dead imp's as he went.

~*~

"We uphold quarantine," Sarge ordered his team, minus Reaper as they waited around the Ark portal. "Nothing gets to the elevator back on Earth. We can't let them get to the surface. If it breathes, kill it."

" _Ark travel in five, four, three, two, one._ " The computerised voice informed them. " _Ark travel complete._ "

Duke doubled over and threw up an mouthful of stomach acid as they arrived back on the Earth-side of the Ark portal. Around them the floor was covered in bodies, blood ran across the floor in streams and the scent of death was strong in the air.

" _This is Corporal Dean Portman with RRTS 6 Special Ops on Olduvai, 0310 hours. We have encountered hostile activity. Require immediate RRTS reinforcements._ " Portman's request for reinforcements was playing in the background as Duke hurried over to the only working and undamaged computer console.

"Yeah," The Kid cursed under his breath. "No shit."

"We got 58 minutes before the auto lockdown is lifted," Duke informed Sarge as he studied the computer screen.

"Reset it for another six hours," Sarge ordered.

"I can't," Duke answered with a shake of his head. "It's been disabled… Same as the topside comm link."

"They're disabling computers now?" The Kid asked, disbelieving.

"Yeah," Duke answered. "They're rocket scientists, remember?"

Suddenly both of them jumped at the sound of gunfire and they turned to see Sarge moving between the dead bodies, shooting each of them once through the heart and once through the head. There was no telling who was infected and who wasn't with so much blood staining the bodies and their cloths and they couldn't risk having more imp's to contend with, than they already had on their hands.

"You know what to do," Sarge ordered.

All three of them began to make their way through the Earth-side facility shooting the dead bodies as they went. After coming across nothing but dead bodies they turned a corner to find a group of eight people huddled over a pile of dead bodies. Only they were ripping the bodies apart and eating their internal organ.

One of them turned and noticed Sarge, Duke and the Kid standing there and it let out an unearthly shriek, alerting the others to the presence of live meat. All of the zombies got to their feet and charged at the members of the RRTS, only to be shot down in a hail of bullets.


	17. Chapter Sixteen

"We've gotta go now!" Reaper exclaimed as he finally reached the lab Sam and Helena had moved to and burst in through the door.

"Why did they take Goat and not Destroyer?" Sam questioned from where she was working at one of the desks. "Why Carmack and not Doctor Thurman?"

"What?" Reaper asked as he looked round the room for Helena, he spotted her leaning against the far wall, gripping her side and holding a RRTS hand gun. She must have gotten it from either Goat, Portman or Destroyer.

"Lucy had the 24th chromosome," Sam explained. "But she wasn't a monster. She died protecting her child, not devouring it. Why did the same chromosome that made her superhuman, turn Stahl into a monster?"

"We have to go," Reaper insisted.

"Just give me a minute."

"We don't have a minute!"

"Then give me 10 seconds," Sam pleaded. "This is its tongue. This is brain matter from Portman. This is from Destroyer."

Reaper watched as she held the two pieces of brain matter over the tongue. When she held Destroyer's brain matter over the tongue it did nothing, but when she held Portman's over it, it twitched and moved trying to reach it.

"It's choosing, John," Sam told him. "It's choosing who to infect."

"It's choosing?" Reaper's curiosity got the better of him. "How is it choosing?"

"There are genetic markers for psychotic and violent behaviour," Sam explained. "It could be a specific neurotransmitter it's picking up on, a ganglion. Latching onto numbers in the DNA code linked to..."

"Linked to what?" Helena asked, moving over to them. "Evil?"

"Ten percent of the human genome is still unmapped," Sam shrugged one shoulder. "Some say it's the genetic blueprint for the soul."

"Maybe C-24 is what destroyed the population," Helena pointed out. "It would explain why some of them had to build the Ark."

"To escape to a new beginning," Sam nodded in agreement. "Some it made superhuman. Others, monsters."

"Oh my God," Reaper gasped, as realisation of what they were saying hit him. "We gotta get out of here now."

"What's wrong?" Sam asked picking up on her brother's distress.

"The people quarantined on the other side of the Ark," Reaper answered. "They won't all be infected!"

"What's going on?" Helena questioned.

"The imp's, they got through the Ark," Reaper replied, as they left the lab and unseen by both Helena and Reaper, Sam picked up a vial of C-24. "Sarge is going to kill all the people quarantined there… All you work colleagues, The civilian that were living here. Come on!"

~*~

" _Ark travel complete,_ " A computerised voice sounded as Helena, Sam and Reaper arrived on the Earth-side of the Ark transporter.

"Oh, my God," Sam gasped in horror as she looked round.

"Sarge, what's your position?" Reaper said into his comm.

Helena looked round and covered her mouth and nose with one of her hands. Not again. She couldn't deal with this again. It had been traumatising enough the first time, she really didn't need to go through all this again.

"Sarge," Reaper continued. "Sarge, come in. Do you copy?"

Sam gripped Helena's arm and stared down at the pool of blood they were standing in. It was like she'd suddenly been thrown into a horror movie, only a director wasn't about to yell 'cut!' any time soon.

"Come in, Sarge," Reaper was beginning to become unnerved. "Do you read me? Over."

Helena slowly looked round, taking in the sight of the dead bodies… She frowned as she noticed the bullet holes. Had these people already been dead or had the RRTS already started their executions? One of the bodies twitched and Helena suddenly wasn't so sure a bullet through the skull was enough to kill those infected.

"Sarge," Reaper tried again. "Come in, do you copy?"

" _Loud and clear,_ " He finally got a reply.

"Look, do not kill everybody," Reaper explained. "I repeat, do not kill everybody. They're not all infected. Do you copy?"

" _Copy that,_ " Sarge answered.

~*~

Having just taken down a man wielding an axe, Sarge lowered his weapon and looked round, when a movement from further up the hallway he, Duke and the Kid were in caught his attention and caused him to raise his gun again.

"Help me, help me, please," A man in a lab coat approached Sarge. "Help me. Help me, please."

Sarge adjusted his aim and pulled the trigger.

"Clear the rest of this sector and meet back at the Ark chamber," Sarge ordered turning back to the Kid and Duke before walking away.

Duke and the Kid nodded to each other and carried on walking. They finally reached a split in the hallway and Duke turned left whilst the Kid went right. Duke walked slowly as he kept his weapon raised, the imp's were sneaky fuckers and it was near impossible to tell where one was hiding until it jumped out and the zombies were just plain creepy... Finally Duke reached a pile of bodies.

"Jesus Christ!" A voice suddenly exclaimed, as Duke carried on with the orders he'd been given. "What the hell are-"

"Who the hell's in there?" Duke demanded.

Suddenly Pinky appeared from where he had been hiding under a pile of dead bodies.

"Well, don't just stand there, you dumb son of a bitch," Pinky yelled at Duke. "Help me up."

Meanwhile down the left hallway, the Kid had entered a supply room, only to find it full of survivors. One of them even had a baby in their arms, which was crying weakly. The Kid quickly reached for the light switch and as the light flickered on, he saw children of varies ages hidden behind boxes of supplies, whilst the adults held any objects they could find capable of being used as a weapon.

"Please," A women stepped forward. "Help us."

The Kid stared at her. She was dressed in a white lab coat and there wasn't a hint of blood on her.

There wasn't a sign of blood on any of them.

They were all clean.

He couldn't do it.

He couldn't kill them.


	18. Chapter Seventeen

"You don't have to kill all of them," Sam explained beginning to get frustrated. "I don't think everyone is infected, or even capable of being infected."

"We have orders to contain this threat by any means necessary," Sarge answered.

"So let's evacuate the uninfected," Reaper suggested. "And blow this place to hell."

"And we have orders to protect this facility," Sarge reminded him.

"We don't have orders to kill innocent people!" Reaper argued.

"We have to stop anything from getting to the surface," Sarge growled. "By. Any. Means. Necessary."

They were suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Duke with Pinky trailing behind him.

"Found this little chicken shit hiding under a pile of dead bodies," Duke explained.

"Am I glad to see you guys," Pinky said sounding relieved. "Those things cut right through the door. I tried to use the grenade but they came at me too fast. Followed me through the Ark and started to kill everybody. It was horrible."

"There's no wound on his neck," Helena noted, from where she was standing beside Sam. "He's clean."

"I say who's clean," Sarge said turning towards Pink, raising his weapon. "And who's not."

"I mean, it wasn't my fault," Pinky defended himself as Sarge stalked towards him. "Hey, I'm not a soldier. You shouldn't have left me."

"Sarge," The Kid suddenly appeared hurrying towards them. "There's a storeroom to the south. It's got, like, 20 people holed up inside of it. We gotta do something."

"Your orders were to clear that sector," Sarge turned towards him, anger radiating off him. "Is it cleared?"

"No, I told them to stay put," The Kid answered, with a shake of his head. "They're okay. They're just scared shitless."

"We kill them all," Sarge glared at him. "Let God sort them out."

"This is wrong," The Kid shook his he's head. "I think-"

"Son, you don't think," Sarge yelled at him. "That's an order. We're in the field, soldier."

"Sarge, if nothing's found them-" Reaper stepped forward.

"You will obey the direct order," Sarge cut Reaper off, staring at the Kid. "Of your commanding officer."

"No."

"Now."

"Go to hell."

"No!" Reaper yelled as Sarge raised his weapon and fired at the Kid.

"No," Sam gasped rushing over to where the Kid had fallen.

"Holy shit!" Duke cursed.

Helena stared at Sarge in mute shock. He'd just killed one of his own men! It was bad enough he wanted to kill innocent people, but by killing one of his own men, it proved how heartless he truly was… And the Kid… He was hardly out of his childhood years.

"Mutinous insurrection is punishable," Sarge said. "By death."

"It was his first mission!" Reaper yelled at him, from where he was now kneeling beside the Kid and Sam.

"And it's not gonna be my last," Sarge replied, readying his weapon. "I need soldiers."

Slowly Sam got to her feet and moved away, Duke quickly caught her arm and moved her behind him, while he carefully positioned himself so his gun was facing Sarge.

This wasn't the man he knew.

The Sarge he knew would never have gunned down one of his own men.

"I don't need anybody else but soldiers," Sarge carried on.

Reaper slowly shut the Kid's eyes and got to his feet, picking up his weapon as he did so. Slowly he turned to face Sarge and adjusted his grip on his weapon. Sarge stared at him and Reaper slowly lifted his head up and meet Sarge's gaze. And whatever Sarge saw in Reapers eyes had him raising his weapon again in Reaper's direction.

"Drop the weapons," Pinky suddenly demanded, with a gun raised. "I mean it."

Sarge quickly turned his attention away from Reaper and started Pinky down, whose hands were beginning to shake in fear.

"I have no intention of being killed by a madman," Pinky continued. "Drop the weapons."

Suddenly Sarge's eyes widened as his gaze travelled past Pinky, to something over his shoulder.

"Ah," Pinky muttered. "There's something behind me, isn't there?"

Suddenly Pinky was grabbed by an imp and thrown across the room. Sarge raised his weapon and began firing. And the creature lashed out, sending Reaper crashing into a wall. Helena's sensitive hearing heard the cracking of bones, even over the rapid gunfire.

"On me," Sarge yelled running after the creature.

Duke quickly followed him, but Reaper forced himself to his feet with a grunt of pain. His face was bloody from where the imp's claws had caught his face and he was limping and leaning on the wall heavily. He quickly caught up with Duke and grabbed his arm.

"Get Sam," He ordered, before going after Sarge.

Reaper caught up with Sarge just as they passed through a nanowall into a seemingly empty hallway.

"Listen," Reaper hissed as a noise caught his attention.

It sounded like footsteps. Suddenly out the shadows of the hallway a hoard of zombies came charging towards the two of them.

"Withdraw!" Sarge yelled as he began firing. "Withdraw behind the nanowall."

~*~

Duke quickly led Sam and Helena through the facility, as they followed behind Sarge and Reaper.

"Wait here," Duke said, as they reached a nanowall and he went ahead to help Sarge and Reaper, who were shooting wildly further down the hallway on the other side of the nanowall.

"Move!" Duke yelled as he gave covering fire, allowing Sarge and Reaper to fall back. "Move!"

Sarge and Reaper burst through the nanowall and began firing through it as Duke moved and joined them. Sarge quickly slammed his fist down on the nanowall controls, buckling the metal. Helena froze and stared at him. No normal human could have done that, even if they were as strong as Sarge was.

"Fuck!" Sarge yelled. "The wall's not closing!"

Suddenly Sam started screaming as an imp began to drag Duke through a vent in the floor. Both Sarge and Reaper turned towards him, but there was nothing they could do apart from watch as Duke was dragged the whole way through, leaving nothing but bloody, buckled metal behind.

A hand reached through the nanowall and grabbed Sarge by the ankle whilst he was distracted and he fell through to the floor and he was dragged backwards. He grabbed the wall and looked up at Reaper, who had turned to face him.

"I'm not supposed to die," Sarge said as he let go of the wall.

Reaper began firing through the nanowall, but part of it turned solid and he got hit by a ricocheting bullet and fell to his knees.

"John!" Sam shrieked.

"Let's go," Reaper reached over and grabbed Sam's arm and began dragging her away. "Come on."

But Helena didn't follow them, instead she picked up Duke's gun, which luckily hadn't been pulled through the vent in the floor with him and turned to face the nanowall. She hadn't been brave before and a lot of people had died.

She could be brave this time, though.

She'd buy Reaper and Sam the time they needed to escape and destroy the facility. She wasn't going to stop fighting until she'd killed every last one of them, or they ripped her to pieces. Either she was going down or they were.

~*~

"How long before they get through?" Sam asked as she appeared carrying another box to add to the barricade they'd built.

"Not long," Reaper groaned, suddenly feeling dizzy and leaning against the wall closest to him.

"You've been hit," Sam rushed over to him. "Oh, John."

She quickly put pressure on the wound and guided Reaper to sit down.

"Helena," Sam called. "I need help."

But she got no reply.

"Helena?" Sam looked round. "Oh my god! Where's Helena!? She was right behind us!"

Reaper blinked and looked around, frowning.

"No," He whispered.

He moved to get up but Sam held him in place.

"I've got to find Helena," He looked at his sister, preying she'd understand.

"Later, John," Sam told him. "Right now… You're bleeding out."

Reaper sat back. He was losing strength and fast.

"Listen to me, Sam," He whispered as he shivered.

"You're cold," Sam muttered. "Shivering."

"It's important," Reaper weakly pulled something from his belt and held it out to her. "This is an ST grenade. When they come through... You pop the top and hit the button."

"John," Sam muttered, as Reaper's eyelids began to drop. "Stay with me."

She reached for the vial of C-24 she'd taken from the lab.

"Stay awake," She said, looking round for a needle. "John, stay with me, please."

She suddenly remembered Helena's epipen in her pocket and pulled it out.

"What's that?" Reaper asked, blinking at her.

"It's C-24," Sam explained. "It's from the lab."

"No," Reaper said weakly.

"It could save you," Sam said as she loaded a shot of C-24 into the now empty syringe.

"No way," Reaper shook his head weakly. "Forget it."

"You're bleeding to death."

"No way, Sam… I've done some bad things."

"I know you."

"You don't know me… You don't know…"

"You're my brother. I know you."

"Wait," Reaper weakly reached up and caught her arm and pulled his hand gun from his belt. "Wait… If I should turn into one of those demons. One through the heart, one through the head... Don't you hesitate. Okay?"

"I won't need to," Sam said, but taking the gun from her brothers hand anyway. "I know you. You're my brother."

Sam injected the C-24 into her brothers' arm just as his eyelids slid closed.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Helena slowly backed down the hallway keeping her gaze firmly fixed on the nanowall. As the nanowall continued to remain unstable the imps and zombies on the other side were struggling to get through, but soon one of them would work out how to get through and once one was through, the others would soon follow.

Raising Duke's weapon, Helena took aim and waited.

It hadn't taken her long to get passed the DNA weapon activation unit on the weapon which stopped anyone other than Duke from using the weapon and she'd even inputted her own DNA and in honour of Duke and the nickname he'd given her the small screen read: Handle ID: Angel.

Suddenly one of the zombies made it through the nanowall and Helena fired at it. The now dead zombie fell to the floor and Helena blew a strand of hair out of her face. An imp suddenly burst through the nanowall and Helena pulled the trigger. It was surprisingly easy to take down, but Helena wasn't getting her hopes up yet. So far she'd only faced down one of them at a time…

Suddenly the nanowall exploded in a shower of sparks and metal and the lights flickered off, leaving only the emergency lighting switched in. Helena fired and began to back up more quickly as close to twenty imp's and zombies charged towards her. She took down as many as she could, but there were just too many of them and she was running out of hallway rapidly.

Reaching the end of the hallway, Helena had no choice but to run and run she did. She took off in the opposite direction to the way Sam and Reaper had gone. Helena cried out in pain as her injured side was jolted by her movements. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Sam she couldn't run with her injury.

But if she didn't run, she was going to die.

And she was determined to take down as many of the hell creatures as she could before that happened. Because she knew in her heart of hearts she wasn't going to be getting out of here alive. She raised her weapon and fired at an imp ahead of her and almost passed out from the pain as she jumped over its body.

She needed to find somewhere to hide and fast.

There was no way she was going to be able to take out these creatures by facing them head on. She was going to have to come up with a strategy. Helena turned down another hallway and ducked past a zombie which launched itself at her. She pulled out Goat's hand gun and fired over her shoulder and she heard a couple of the bullets hit their target.

Suddenly out of nowhere something grabbed her and Helena screamed.

She kicked out ignoring the pain it caused her, only for a set of razor sharp teeth to sink into her right leg. Helena slammed the butt of Goat's hand gun down on the creature head and it let go. She dropped to the floor and fired at the creature and watched it fall with a grim sense of satisfaction.

In the hallway behind her the shrieks and roars of the zombies and imp's were getting closer.

Helena tried to stand, but her now injured right leg gave out below her and she collapsed to the floor with a moan of pain. Looking round she spotted a pile of bodies and slowly dragged herself towards them. These creatures weren't interested in the dead, so if she pretended to be dead, maybe they'd run straight past.

~*~

Reaper blinked as he slowly sat up and looked round.

"Sam?" He called, but the room was empty.

He slowly got to his feet and walked over to the mirror on the opposite wall. He stopped in front of it and wiped the blood from his face. Under the blood there wasn't a single scratch. The C-24 had mutated him… But it hadn't turned him into a monster, it had turned him superhuman.

Reaper rushed back over to where he'd left his gun and picked it up and loaded a fresh clip. He quickly pulled the door to the room open and stepped out. Sam must have taken down the barracked and left to try and keep the imps away from him while the C-24 worked its way through his system.

"Sam?" He called once he was out in the hallway.

He turned as an imp charged at him. He gunned it down and started running, killing all the imps and zombies which crossed him path.

"Sam?" He called out again.

Getting no answer he kept moving, killing more of the creatures from hell as he went. How were there so many of them? He crossed paths with one that could only have been Pinky. It would have been funny if the half monster, half electronic chair wasn't trying to kill him.

"Sam?" He called again entering the hallway leading to the Ark chamber.

"Reaper?" A weak voice called out.

Reaper spun on his heels and looked round.

It couldn't be…

He had to be hearing things.

But then she had survived the first time.

"Helena?" He called.

But he got no reply.

He quickly headed in the direction the voice had come from. As he did so, he noticed he had just over half a minute left until the lift to the surface would be back online. Suddenly a length of blonde hair leading around a corner caught his attention and he rushed towards it. He turned the corner and found Helena lying face down on the floor.

He knelt beside her and reached out, gently pulling back her hair from where it covered most of her face. Under his touch Helena moved slightly and groaned in pain. She slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"You're alive," She whispered.

"Shh," Reaper whispered. "Don't talk."

"Last man standing, Reaper," A voice sounded behind him.

Reaper quickly turned to see Sarge standing in the shadows.

"I think she needs medical attention," Sarge carried on, nodding to Helena.

"Can you get to the elevator?" Reaper asked turning back to Helena, after seeing the wound on Sarge's neck.

"I'm not sure," Helena answered honestly.

"Try," Reaper said before getting to his feet and facing Sarge, "Where are the survivors Kid found?"

"I took care of that problem," Sarge replied. "Quarantine's almost over. Power should be back on any minute."

Slowly Helena began to drag herself away, groaning in pain and Reaper glanced towards her. The lift wasn't far, but he wasn't sure she'd make it. She was leaving a trail of blood behind her. But he was going to buy her as much time as possible. He looked back at Sarge.

"You killed the Kid."

"We're all killers, Reaper. It's what they pay us for."

" _Quarantine complete,_ " A computerised voice echoed through the facility.

"Elevators back on line," Sarge said, as he gloves ripped as his hands began to mutate. "It's finished. What do you say we go outside and get some fresh air?"

Reaper's only answer was the levelling of his gun on Sarge.

"Are you gonna shoot me?" Sarge laughed.

"Yeah," Reaped answered. "I was thinking about it."

"What you got left?" Sarge asked.

"Half a clip. You?"

"I've got one round." Sarge answered, raising his gun and firing at Reaper.

Reaper dodged the blast and began firing at Sarge. The blue substance fired from Sarge's weapon dissolved the wall behind where Reaper had been standing. Sarge turned and run and Reaper followed him. Stepping out into the Ark chamber, Reaper looked round. The place appeared empty, but he knew Sarge was there somewhere. Suddenly Sarge jumped out on him wielding a large piece of metal, but he meet nothing but empty air.

Sarge looked round wildly, but couldn't see Reaper anywhere. Suddenly he turned hearing a noise behind him and he only just had enough time to raise the piece of metal and shield himself as Reaper fired at him.

~*~

Reaper quickly followed Sarge, but once again Sarge had vanishing from sight. He quickly crossed the room and tried to work out where Sarge had gone, but there was no sign of him. Silently Reaper moved across the room, only to be sent flying across the room as Sarge broke through some glass and pushed him.

"Semper fi," Sarge sneered at him. "Motherfucker."

Sarge slowly removed his belt and let it drop to the ground.

"Faithful to the Corps, John."

Slowly Reaper raised his weapon and fired his last bullet into the ceiling, before copying Sarge and undoing his belt and letting it drop to the ground and with it went his ST grenades and knife. With no warning Sarge suddenly charged at him and Reaper was only just quick enough to block the strike coming his way.

And so the two fought, destroying the room as they did so, but neither could get the upper hand for long. And as they fought, Reaper noticed as Sarge continued to mutate. Only he wasn't mutating into any of the creatures he'd seen and killed before… He still looked vaguely human.

Finally Sarge ripped up a piece of metal hand rail from the upper floors surrounding the Ark portal chamber and wrapped it around his forearm, wrist and hand. Reaper watched him wearily, before their fight continued. Only this time, Sarge had the upper hand thanks to his new metal encased fist.

Finally Sarge got Reaper pinned the wall and Reaper threw up a hand to block Sarge's strike, only to receive a spike of metal threw his palm.

"Ugh!" Reaper cried out, before a beeping caught his attention.

He quickly bent the metal around his own hand as Sarge growled at him and bared his teeth. Moving fast, Reaper head-butted Sarge and slammed his free hand down on the Ark travel activation button.

" _Ark portal activation in progress,_ " The computerised voice said.

Reaper kicked the two of them off the wall and sent Sarge flying towards the Ark portal.

" _Five, four, three, two, one._ "

The metal tore through Reapers hand as Sarge was sucked through the portal and by the time Reaper turned his hand over to look at the damage, it had already healed. He quickly hurried over to where he'd left his belt and pulled out an ST grenade.

"Like the Kid said," Reaper said as he pooped the top and pressed the red button. "Go to hell."

He threw the grenade through the Ark portal, knowing it destroy the entire chamber on the other side. And even if Sarge survived, he'd never be able to get back to Earth.

Reaper ran from the chamber and towards the elevator. He could see Helena lying on the floor not far from the elevator doors. She was unconscious and but only her right leg was covered in blood and Reaper breathed a sigh of relief as it showed the stitches that were holding her injured side together hadn't been pulled apart and she wasn't about to bleed out from her midsection.

He reached her and scooped her up his arms, bridal style, and hit the button for the elevator. The doors slid open and he stepped in, pulling Helena closer to his chest. The elevator bang to move upwards and Reaper stared up though the glass ceiling of the lift and blinked against the sunlight streaming down from far above them.

He looked back down at Helena in his arms.

She really was the most beautiful person he'd ever seen.

"Almost home," He whispered, before placing a kiss to the top of her head.


	20. Epilogue

****

Helena drove slowly as snow fell from the sky. If she had left work only a few hours earlier she would have been home by now and been safely indoors before the snow had even began to fall. The roads were covered in thick sheets of ice and the snow was rapidly covering it and ice hidden under snow was every driver's worse nightmare.

Sighing Helena glanced in her rear-view mirror, she was the only driver on the road. It seemed every other driver had more sense than to drive. Maybe she should have waited out the storm at work… It wasn't like her husband was at home waiting for her. John Grimm was working the nightshift at the hospital he worked at.

After everything that had happened on Mars, John had refused to even have a gun in the house, let alone going back to work with one where he'd be killing to order. The RRTS had let him go and even given him a healthy sum of money in attempt to make up for what had happened… He was the only surviving member of his squad and his family.

And the UAC had been all to happy to pay them both off in attempt to keep them both quite, not that Helena was ever going to tell anyone. If people knew about it, what was to stop someone from getting ideas and trying to replicate C-24. Deep down most people craved that kind of power and she did not want to have to deal with anymore imps!

She'd personally destroyed all there research data to ensure the UAC couldn't get their hands on it, but she knew the UAC would get back to Mars one day and re-open the dig… But until that day came she'd quite happily live pretending it had never happened.

She and Reaper had lost a lot on Mars. Helena had lost her best friend and Reaper had lost his twin sister... They had never found Sam's body and the DNA they had gathered from the imps and Zombies didn't match the DNA on file. So many people were unaccounted for and they had no way of telling which imp was Sam.

Helena suddenly slammed her foot down on the brake as she saw something in the road in front of her and her car skidded to a halt.

It was a deer.

It looked up at the car before running off into the falling snow and darkness. Helena took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel. The way the deer's eyes had flashed in the light reminded her of the disembodied head she'd seen hanging from the ceiling back on Mars after the one of the C-24 mutants had escaped.

Helena jumped as he phone suddenly began ringing. She hit the answer button her phone, where it sat on her dashboard allowing her to talk hands free and began driving again.

"Reaper," She greeted.

She heard John sigh.

"You're never going to call me 'John' are you?" He questioned.

"Nope," Helena laughed as she watched the road. "You were lucky I called you John when we were saying our wedding vows."

"Don't I know it," John muttered darkly.

Out of nowhere another set of headlight appeared and they were heading straight for her.

"What the-" Helena was cut off as the second car slammed straight into the side of her, sending her car straight off the road and down the verge and Helena hit her head on the side window and the world went black.

"Helena!" A voice of screaming as she opened her eyes. "Helena can you hear me! Helena, answer me, damn it! Help's on its way, just hold tight. Please, God let her be okay."

Helena blinked and looked round. Her car was on its roof and there was blood everywhere. Her blood. She could see her phone lying amongst the shattered pieces from her windscreen and she blinked at it sluggishly. 'Reaper' the caller ID read. Helena's eyes widened and she quickly began to move.

She got herself free of her seatbelt and pulled herself free of the car. No one could survive a crash like that and she didn't have a scratch on her. Her body had already healed itself. She looked round at the snow covered landscape, before looking back up the verge at the road she'd driving along. The car which had crashed into her was still up there.

She had no choice.

She hadn't wanted to do this so soon, but she had to disappear and she had to do it now. In the distance she could see the flashing lights of the approaching emergency services. She couldn't stay... If the UAC every found out she'd accidentally injected herself with C-24 and hadn't mutated, she'd become their next lab rat and that wasn't something she wanted.

"I'm sorry, Reaper," She whispered before disappearing into the dark winters night. "I'll always love you..."


End file.
